Timeless
by Ember of Wolves
Summary: Shadfic. Inventer Ember Wolf has developed a crush on a certain bespeckled, argyle sock wearing, scholar. A more slice of life piece right now, but will alter have major turmoil. If you can get past the boring sciency parts, the interactions between the two is really adorable. Shad/OC
1. Perpetual crush

**A.N. So here's the deal. I absolutly adore that dork Shad 3 decided to make a fic about him. Love the name Ember, sticking with it, keep in mind she is not the same Ember from other fics. As a general warning, this is a very technology oriented fic and i appologize in advancement if it gets a little boring around some parts, but i feel explination gives the story a little more character. That being said, please enjoy this story of romance and invention.**

In the back of a certain bar in castle town, two figures stowed away from the rest of the customers. One be-speckled, oddly dressed scholar, a book in his hand and argyle sock going up to his knees, and the other a flamed, short-haired female with a set of goggles around her neck and a white button up shirt and grey vest under her black sleeveless duster. They were discussing about the theories of if it were possible to make a machine that would allow one to fly on their own will.

"All you would need is enough lift to get you off the ground and the difference between the pressure in the air above and below the wings will do the rest. The only thing you would need to worry about is our bone density is in larger proportions than that of the avian species. You would need an extra push, yes, but I'm sure it can be done." The girl, Ember made her point to the young man.

"Ember! Quit flirting with Shad and get back to work!" Ember flushed. A look of embarrassed discomfort showed on Shad's face as well.

"But I wasn't-" she paused after turning her head only to see Telma, the bar owner, wasn't listening. Ember sighed and turned back to Shad, standing up. "Sorry, We'll have to talk later."

"Y-yeah." He avoided looking her in the eye for fear of his face penciling pink more than it already was. "I'll be here."

"You know-" Telma began when Ember arrived behind the bar. Ember tensed and started to clean out some of the dirty glasses that had been piling up. She knew what was coming. "It wouldn't hurt to ask the poor guy out to dinner sometime."

"Our relationship is more on professional level. We discuss certain theories and build on each other's feedback." Ember turned to put the now clean glasses on the shelves behind her. "Besides," she took a quick glance Shad's way, he was back to studying the book he acquired from his father long ago. A slight disappointment settled over her seeing his gaze didn't wander her way."I don't think he looks to me in that way. He's too . . . collected, for such things." Her voice was a little solemn. She jumped when she heard Telma's loud laughing behind her.

"Oh honey, If I didn't know any better I'd swear your eyes didn't work."

Ember rolled her eyes. This wasn't the first time she had been teased about her attraction towards the young man, and she knew it wouldn't be her last.

* * *

><p>Ember started cleaning off the tables once the nightly crowd died down to only a few people. Grateful at the amount of tips she received from a busy night, she pondered on whether she should treat herself tomorrow, or save it for new parts for her current clockwork she was working on. While it was important to get her timepiece done, it had also been long time since she did anything special for herself.<p>

"Ember, dear." Telma called to her, breaking Ember's thoughts. "Why don't you head on out, I can finish closing down for the night."

It took Ember moment to process what had been said to her as she was still halfway in her own head.

"Ah. Okay . . . are you sure? I can sweep before I go if you need me to, or put up chairs and-"

"You've done quite enough, Honey. Go home and relax for the rest of the night. Work on that, machine thing, you're always going on about."

Ember grinned widely. It wasn't often Telma let her off early.

"Thank you, it's really appreciated." Ember went to the bar to claim her tips from a jar she kept behind the counter.

"Speaking of which, what exactly are you making? This one isn't going to do damage is it?" Ember narrowed her eyes at her

"That was only one time. And only because I had a slight miscalculation in the chemical balance. Ah, no, actually it's just simple timepiece . . . aaaand a few modifications, here and there. Nothing big." She shrugged her shoulders and looked of to the side.

"Ember." Telma's voice had warning in it. Ember blew sharply out her nose.

"Okay, I'm working on creating perpetual motion that is strong, yet small enough to fit in a pocket watch so it never has to be wound."

A new voice joined the conversation.

"An everlasting watch, now that would be impressive to see if you were to get it working." Ember jumped ever so slightly. She could feel her face on the verge of a blush. She hadn't notice Shad had made his way over to listen to her and Telma's conversation. Ember wondered if he had stayed her whole shift.

"Shad, sweety," Telma started, as the young girl had yet to respond to him. Still abashed by his sudden appearance "It's kinda rude to barge in on someones conversation."

His brow raised.

"Oh, I apologize, I didn't mean any harm. I just . . . I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just overheard you talking and I admit my curiosity got the best of me. I mean while I'm more of a historian, I don't brush off new technologies . . ."

Ember smiled admirably at Shad. She enjoyed when he started to bluster. She found it was one of the things that attracted her to him. There was so many words she could use in describing the character that she saw as Shad. At this time, though, the only word that came to mind was 'adorable'.

"So in a way, the advancement in our scientific know-how, becomes part of history. It just simply can not be ignored."

"Are you done talking our ears off?" Telma asked when he took a pause.

"Sorry, I got carried away again didn't I?" He looked to Ember sheepishly who smirked and nodded, confirming he did, in fact, 'get carried away'. He glanced quickly away from her, clearing his throat to mask his embarrassment. "So, um . . . Ember." He leaned on the counter, getting closer to her, the look of innocent wonder saved only for when he was his most curious. "I would love to hear how you think to achieve such a thing as perpetual motion. It can't be as easy as you make it sound."

"Well actually it's more-"

"Oh no, I know how you two talk. You'll be chatting away into the wee hours of the morning. If you want to talk about your, histories and clocks and things of the sort, take it elsewhere."

"Right, yes, I should be going anyway." Ember made her way back around the front of the counter. She turned back to Shad, who was still leaning on his arms. "We can pick this up again later. I'll tell you all about what I've been working on."

"Y-yes, I'd sure love to hear it." He stammered, and watched Ember head for the door. Telma elbowed him painfully, causing him to straighten up.

"What do you think your doing?" She whispered

"I'm sorry?"

"Go! Walk her home."

"But-"

"I shouldn't have to explain it to you." She winked at him. "You're smarter than that."

Shad's face flushed with realization.

"R-right. I um **ahem** I should go-" He nearly tripped over his own feet, but composed right after, fixing his glasses and quickly started for the exit, halfway turned around, still talking to Telma. "go accompany- heh . . .um . . . I-I'll see you later." and made his own way out the door.

Telma laughed to herself.

"For as smart as those two are, they're still idiots."

* * *

><p>"Ember, please wait a moment."<p>

Ember stopped and turned at the sound of Shad's voice. She had just made it up the stairs that led to the main street when he called out. He hurried up, so as not to keep her waiting long.

"I uh- thought, maybe we can still continue our previous discussing while walking? Maybe? I mean, only if you would like to." He ran his fingers through the back of his hair, fussing it up a little.

Ember was taken by surprise at his offer.

"Sure." She said slowly. " Um, I don't really live far though, it may be a short walk. Though we can always just wonder around a bit with no destination in mind."

"Yes. That sounds pleasant." They started walking up the street to the main square. There was a few moments of peaceful silence, before Shad had spoken up again "So, about this watch . . " He put his hand in the pockets of his jacket, not knowing what else to do with them.

"Yes, right. Where to begin." She paused, "Well, I can't really tell you much as I'm not even sure I can get it to work." She shrugged and waved a hand up a little.

"Are you having troubles with the perpetual aspects?"

Ember shook her head.

"Well yes and no, I'm more than confidant I can find a way for that. Even though I still haven't . . yet" Ember then started to talk with her hands as well, raising and lowering them, hands motioning on certain words. She was certainly a restless speaker, but Shad found it gave her character. "The problem is, I wouldn't know how to fit it all in a standard size pocket watch. While I would have the space from removing the winding mechanism, the space I would need for its replacement would still be too big. To fit it in, the gears inside would have to be near microscopic for it to function properly. At that point they would be extremely fragile and might not hold up to the constant work they'll have to do. I would have to get them specially made out of stronger metals. Not to mention the hours I'll have to spend over a magnifier, meticulously placing them just so. "

Shad found himself focused at Ember as she spoke so openly about her project. He quickly looked ahead, knowing it was rude to stare, no matter how captivating to him her words were. Ember had said she couldn't tell him much, but yet here she was, with everything in the world to say.

"See, with clockwork, you can't exactly just give it a lick and promise. Every gear, cog, and spring has to be exactly lined up where it's supposed to be, or the whole inter-wound system would fall apart." She huffed and settled her speaking hands down into her duster's pockets. "Truthfully though, it's starting to lean more towards the side of failure. If I can't get golden medium between the efficiency of it all, it's a scrapped innovation."

Shad stopped walking, as cue for Ember to do the same.

"Ember Wolf, I'm shocked you would say such a thing." his stern voice and use of her full name made her look away from him. "You would throw away countless hours of work you put into this because of few difficulties?"

"It was supposed to be just a side project, not take up all my resources."

"Side project or not, Ember your idea is brilliant." Her heart fluttered a bit. "It's little overly ambitious, sure, perpetual motion is near impossible to create, but ultimately if you succeed, it would be worth every bit of effort. You would make something completely new to this world and I think that in its self is simply amazing. I would hope I get to see the day you succeed in your endeavors."

Arms suddenly went around his neck and he had to take a step back to keep from falling. A small sound of surprise escaped from his lips. Her head rested on the side of his causing his ears to go red.

"Thank you." She mumbled from her arms.

He wasn't sure how to respond to her sudden close proximity. Instead of hugging her back, he settled for stammering a simple "Y-your welcome?"

Ember let go of him and stepped back a few steps. Shad found himself being a little disappointed she let go of him so soon, and he wondered why he didn't just return the embrace. After all it was just a friendly gesture . . . right?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to invade your space."

He shook his head.

"It's alright, but, why are you thanking me?"

"You're right. Throwing away all that work would be counter productive. I didn't really think it mattered as it's just a pocket watch in the end, but you praise it to be something a lot more than I originally thought. It makes me feel like what I do with my work is important. So thank you."

"Well of course it's important, why would it not be?"

Ember smiled, then paused.

"Um, I don't mean to sound rude, but would you mind if we cut our walk short? I'm more than little excited to continue figuring this watch out now."

"Oh no, not at all. I understand." He removed a hand from his pocket and gestured in front of him. "Lead the way Miss Ember."

She chuckled a little this title. She had told him several times not to call her that, but his chivalry sometimes got the better of him. Of course she never minded this. It was refreshing every once in a while.

She began to walk the way to the living section of Castle town, Shad in tow right next to her. Silence once again settled over them. Ember took no notice of this as she had her head tilted up in thought on where she would find a stronger metal and who would be willing to take her commission for such ridiculously small gears. The Gorons were good with metalwork but they lacked the refined delicacy it took to construct them. Would it even work with smaller gears in the first place? If she ended up spending all that money for it to not work, then she was out a good sum of rupees. She'd have to take on more hours at Telma's provided she would let her.

She neared her door and took out her key from her pocket.

"Well, this is my stop. It was a pleasure talking with you."

"Ah yes, of course. Thank you for letting me walk with you and telling me about your timeless timepiece."

"Timeless timepiece . . . It's got a bit of a ring to it. I may just have to call it that when it's finished."

Shad chuckled, and gazed at her with admiration. For her dedication to her work, of course. That's all.

"H-hey, um. I don't have to work tomorrow. If you want, you can stop by and I'll show it to you, or at least what I have done of it."

"I'll take you up on that offer, I wouldn't miss an opportunity to finally see your workshop."

"I know you've been wanting to. Tomorrow then." Ember unlocked her door and stepped inside. She turned around and smiled at the young scholar. "Have goodnight Shad, be safe walking home."

He smiled back.  
>"I will. Goodnight, miss Ember, peaceful dreams."<p>

Ember shut the door, leaned against it and smiled widely. It had been a wonderful night indeed.

**Closing A.N. **

**i wouls love for reviews, not only positive, but anything you think i would be able to add or subtract from the story. I learn from critism, but if you're just here to tell me you don't like it i suck, i will kindly ask you to leave my writing space. It's fanfiction, it's not supposed to be perfect.**


	2. House call

**A.N. alrighty, sorry this chapter is a bit short, so i'll post two today to make up for it.**

**please review. i like reviews. everyone likes reviews. **

Shad woke early the next morning out of habit. The earlier he rose, the more of the day he had to be productive. Today though, he admitted to himself he was a bit nervous about going to see Ember. Before now, he had only interacted with her when she was at Telma's either on shift or right after. Few times they had seen each other in passing while running errands, and they would exchange quick pleasantries. Now that he thought about it, last night was the first time they had socialized outside her work hours.

Now he was invited into her living space. Usually when a girl does that, there is a certain kind of "familiarity" involved. of which he himself had very little experience in the art of romance. Of course he wasn't there to be that friendly with Ember. It was just a casual visit between friends. Just to see the working of an inventor. That happened to be a girl. Whom he admitted was . . . quite attractive to him. But nothing more about it he assured himself. Still, he found his heart beating faster in anticipation.

* * *

><p>A knock on the door jolted Ember awake. She looked around, confused as to why she wasn't in her bed if she has been sleeping. It came to her quickly that she had stayed up all night drafting out ideas onto paper, and creating larger models of how her timepiece would work. Eventually at some point she had closed her eyes just for a few minutes and it had become morning.<p>

Another knock came from the door. She figured it was Shad. It was a little early for her liking, but it was her own fault for staying up.

"Hold on." She called, stretching her arms upward, releasing the tension her back had built up from being slumped over all night. She ran her fingers through her short, fire-colored hair so it didn't stick up in the front. She made sure she was in appropriate wear, black pants white button-up shirt. . . good enough. Walking over to the door she unlocked and opened it to patiently waiting scholar.

"Ah! Good Morning Ember. I hope I'm not too early. I don't want to intrude your schedule."

"No, you're perfectly-" She yawned, covering her mouth. "fine. Sorry."

"Oh dear, I woke you, didn't I? I could come back later if you would like to sleep more." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, I was kinda up late of my own volition. Though the repercussion are, " she though for a moment for the right words. "less than pleasurable. But please, do come in. Don't let me make you stand outside all day." She moved aside for him to enter. "I-its a little out of sorts, kinda messy, but I prefer to call it organized chaos."

Shad took a look around in awe of what he saw. It was a very open place. To his immediate left was a couch set diagonal the wall in front of rectangle coffee table. Beyond that further back, was a work bench littered with crumpled up papers he assumed to be failed drafts, tools, gears, models of clockwork, a few half finished projects, it was all just a disarray of brilliance. Beyond that were stairs leading to an open loft separated only by a guard rail, the only things up there where shelves of books, some of which were piled up on the floor, and door leading to a room he could only assume was the bathroom. Right underneath the upper floor was a nook that held a large and comfy looking bed and a wardrobe to the side. The opposite wall of that, to his immediate right was another workbench, but this one held viles of chemicals, powders, and a few stones and gems that may or my not have magical properties. To the very right wall, was an open kitchen, surprisingly the only thing that was spotless save for few dishes.

"Oh wow. This is . . . wow." Ember beamed at his reaction. He was speechless. That never happens. She watched as he walked over to her chem lab table, running his hand along its surface and closely examining what the bottles contained. He understood without being told that touching anything was restricted.

"I'm curious, what do you use all this for? I Thought, your work mainly consisted of mechanics and innovation."

"I experiment on how certain elements react with one another, document the effects, and potential purposes that it could be used for. Right now, I've been trying to see if I can't make synthetic golden chu jelly. Though, my last batch turned out to be . . . mildly explosive."

Shad turned to her with concern.

"How 'Mildly' exactly? You weren't hurt were you?"

"Well obviously I'm alive and well so it couldn't have been too bad. Just know I didn't choose to have short hair." She tangled and untangled her fingers in the spiky back of her hair. "Worst haircut I ever received, complained to the stylist, all he did was spit fire at me."

Shad laughed at her humor.

"I like it enough. I think the untamed look suits you more than if it were long. Fits your personality better" he complimented, smiling at her.

"Ah . . . t-thanks" she flushed.

"You said you were up all night? Working on that watch I assume."

"Oh yes, let me show you." She led shad to the other work table. She started rummaging through papers, trying to find something. "Hang on, it's here somewhere." Ember flipped up and down through several large papers, holding what looked like schematics for certain parts of something larger. "Ah, here we go. She pulled out flat black journal, about the size of a standard book, from between two pages and started flipping. Shad curiously looked over her shoulder while she did so. They were calculation notes, in very small, fine, and somewhat rushed, handwriting. She stopped on a paged labeled Timeless Time-piece with a small not to the side saying 'thank you shad'. He smirked a little, she had taken his name for it and been credited, he felt a bit honored.

"I was going to go with Perpetul Pocketwatch, but I'd figure it was too many syllables. Anyway I had been trying to think up a way to create perpetual motion. Although it supposedly breaks the laws of conservation of energy, I believe it can be done." She handed him the journal to look through her notes on the matter, but still continued to explain the gist of it all. "At first I was thinking about trying to use counter weights inside the watch, but quickly realized anything to do with gravity would be null when turning it anyway but up. So I moved on to hydraulics. Keeping water under a constant tight air pressure to intake and let out air to make the gears which would ultimately also power the intake and outtake but while theoretically possible on a larger scale, one that small wouldn't bring in enough air pressure to keep it going. I went on to reducing the among of friction between gears to almost zero whether through magic or some kind of lubricant. Either way though, it would still have to be maintained to some degree and even if it wasn't, absolute zero could never be reached and therefore friction would eventually stop the gears. Though after an immeasurable amount of time, of which would last generations, the point is to make it perpetual, not close to perpetual."

"This is all so," He flipped through the pages, feeling like a kid in a candy store seeing all this research. "Amazing. I can't believe you wrote all this. Made all this" he moved his arm to the entire room. "It's nothing short of genius work." He would have loved to read through all her notes, not just in the journal he held, but everything she had to offer in her home. Though he knew that it was her intellectual property, and he would not dare invade her right to privacy.

"Well I wouldn't go that far, I just know a lot about physics and sciency things. I don't really like to flaunt my work about for praise. I mean I've utilized things here and there in public, but nothing big. Honestly, you're the only person besides me who has laid eyes on what I really work on."

Shad's mind stopped. He was the only one? For her to hide all of this, only to speak about it vaguely outside these walls to those who asked. Though she spoke with such passion behind her words, he would have never guessed she had so much more to offer. And out of all people who could have seen this, she chose him to share it with. This was something she held close to her, so dear in her heart, it never saw the light of day. For him to see that part of her, it was, in a way, intimate.

"Ember. I. I'm honored. Truly, this was an opportunity I will not take for granted I assure you, but why store it away? You could make a living off of your work, be a well known inventor."

"I don't do it for personal gain. This is all for curiosity's sake. Take the impossible and make it possible just to say I can do it. Everything I work on, successful or not, has been built with a certain care that makes it unique to me. While the increase in funds on my part would be nice, I fear that if I do sell rights for production, the integrity that goes into making sure it works perfectly will be compromised for cheaper materials to save money. To see my work fall to mediocre imitations of its self would pain me greatly. But I digress. Maybe someday I'll share it, but for now, I just want to do what I love without the preasure of 'needing' to do it."

**okay, next chapter will be up shortly. like in hte next half hour or so. but again, PLEASE leave a review, even if it's just a quick "cool" i'd still aprreciate it.**


	3. Blantent Denial

**A.N. i know people skip to the latest chapter to see whats what and how far things go, but no dice, there isn't a kiss scene here. sorry. but please read, review, tell me i'm awesome, i need the ego boost. or tell me i'm not awesome, i need the humility as well. yes, i'm being serious. but seriously please review.**

"Another round over here girl!" Three very drunken men, called Ember over to bring them more of the stupefying intoxication poison. At least that's what she likes to think it as. Sometimes she wished the more . . . 'interactive' drunks that frequented here would keel over from alcohol overdose. Maybe then she wouldn't feel like she needed to take shower just from the looks some of them gave her. While a look of displeasure was clear on her as she faced away to fill new mugs, it was completely wiped when she turned to carry them to their table.. As she neared, she could feel them looking her over. It sent a bad chill through her.

"Thanks darlin'. You know, you've been real nice to us. Maybe after you get done here, you can come over we'll sit and 'cuddle'. It can be your tip for the night, or mine." His two friends beside beside him encouraged him on, whistling and telling her she was lucky he gave her the offer. "what do you say sweet cheek?"

'I say take your inebriated, narcissistic ego, and shut your repugnant mouth you repulsive excuse for a human being.'

"I don't think so." She gathered up the empty mugs and took her leave of the table, but not before her tormentors gave her a good tap on her backside.

"Your loss, blondy."

It took everything in her to not turn around and strangle the life out of him. And she wasn't blond, she was somewhere between blond and red. Fire. That's what she was. Fire. And no degenerate is going to tell her otherwise. And if they kept up this degrading act, they were going to get burned.

* * *

><p>"Shad, you glare at them any more and you're going to burn a hole through their head, yeah?" Ashie, clad in pieces of armor on her legs, arms and lower torso, had been getting tired of watching her be-speckled friend stare deathly at the three men across the room cat-calling Ember.<p>

"I would welcome the notion."

"Well cut it out, your girlfriend can handle herself, she's scrawny, but tough."

"She's not my- " He pushed up his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose and furrow his brow. "Ember and I's relationship is not in any way romantic. Not that it's any of your business otherwise." The tension he had been building from seeing Ember get harassed was showing in his speech. "Now would you PLEASE, stop addressing her in such a way."

"You could learn to get some manners Ashie." A middle aged man, Rustle, chimed in. He looked as though he came from more of a country setting and didn't quite fit in with the city crowd. "It's Shad's choice if he wants to be in denial and we should respect that." Ashie snickered

"De-Denial!? For Dins sake, she's good friend, I admire her for her intellect, and I care for her like any other friend. Any delusions you create otherwise do not come from me I assure you. I don't like seeing her being treated so . . . crudely. And no, not because we're in any sort of 'together'. It's disrespectful to anyone."

"Tch, you take the fun out of everything, Shad." Ashie said, downing the rest of her drink.

* * *

><p>"I still have a lot to figure out, but the entire design has to change depending on the method of motion so it's hard to pinpoint anything right now." Ember had been keeping Telma up to date on her current project. Not for bragging sake, but because it was something to talk about, and since it didn't explode or burn holes in the table, Telma genuinely had interest in it. As long as she didn't go off on a hour long speech about it, that is.<p>

"HEY HOT STUFF!" Ember tensed, slammed her palms down on the counter, and sucked in her breath sharply. Oh how she hated that table. "Walk your pretty little self over here and bring the good mead with ya'."

"Telma, I'm going to kill them I swear."

"Why don't I take over that one? You can still have their tip, if they leave any. Go take a break, cool off a bit."

"I'd rather go disinfect every inch of my body. Then bathe in scalding hot water."

"Hang in the Ember." Telma walked away drink in hand, leaving Ember to her break. She broke away from her work duties to go sit off to the side with the people she could tolerate in this Din forsaken bar.

"Ashie may I borrow your sword? I seemed to have left mine in my other jacket. I've got a few rodents that need to be eradicated." She spat as she sat down to the left of rustle and the right of the eldest of the group, Auru, an older man, usually clad in warmer attire. Her, back was facing the rest of the bar. She didn't mind this. She was tired at looking at their horrid faces anyway.

"Do you need me to go give them a good beating?" Rustle offered, aware of the young female's discomfort.

"It would take the satisfaction out of doing it myself." A mug was slid in front of her by Auru, Ember looked to him confused, he knew she couldn't drink on the job. He formed a smirk on his face.

"I wont' tell, besides you could use a good pick-me-up."

"Thanks. Really." She took a quick glance behind her, Telma was busy with other people and Ember took the opportunity to down half. She started to taste it after a few seconds and almost spat it out. It caused a good laugh around the table. Even Shad couldn't suppress a chuckle at the face she made when she realized how terrible it was. "Yeck, what is that? It tastes like soured milk and orange juice." She wiped the side of her mouth where some of the concoction still lingered. "and it burns going down."

"I honestly don't know, but it's good isn't it?" Auru mussed

"I think you need to redefine your definition of 'good'. That was . . . ah I can't even find word to describe that."

"Revolting?" Shad offered, still trying to hold back his grin.

"I was leaning more towards nauseating, but that fits better as, by some miracle, I don't actually feel nauseous. And I can see you're laughing, your attempts to hide it are futile"

Shad let out a chuckle. "I'm sorry Ember, really."

"I'm sure you are." She gave one last shiver before sliding it back to the elder beside her. "I'm never trusting you to give me a drink again."

* * *

><p>It had been a few weeks since Ember started 'project pocket watch' as she deemed to call it. Every attempt to create what she needed ended in failure one way or another and she was starting to get frustrated at the lack of progress.<p>

Ember crossed out another page of rejected theories on compact perpetual motion. It sounded easier as an idea. So simple in words, but Din was it hard to make it happen.

"Make a pocket watch, how hard can that be? Oh by the way you have fundamental laws of physic going against you. Good luck. Yeah right. You think such things wouldn't apply in such a magic filled land, but no, basic rules of existence can't be bothered by such things." Ember suppressed a yawn. She looked to her annoyingly not everlasting clock on her wall, ticking away the seconds.

Two in the morning. This whole thing was giving her a head ache. Maybe she should take a break from this one for a month or two. Get a fresh start later. That sounded like a good idea to her. Maybe have time to work on something more achievable.

Ember laid her head down on her propped up work desk. She looked at the larger prototype she had made for an air pressure test. The compacted chamber worked like a syringe. The air tight suctions, when pulled apart drew the air in, then pressed back, cause it to release. Not to good for motion without a way to draw air in with out it being manual. She wondered why she even tried that one, it had the same complications as the hydraulic version.

Her eyes shifted down to the other plans littering the floor. In her previous frustrations, she had scattered her designs for other projects away from her. One of them caught her eye. She picked her head off the desk and wheels started to turn.

"How can we fly like birds?" She smiled at the realization. "Low pressure above, high pressure below. We just need that extra push." She snatched the designs off the floor, making notes off to the side so she could remember later, Laid it out on the table and stuck it underneath her air-pressure test model.

"I'm going to need a lot of money for this one. Thankfully I have dad's funding." She mused, and finally started to get herself to bed.


	4. In the Beginning

_Four Months Previous_

"So why exactly do you want to work here?" Telma ask the girl in front of her with long orange-blonde hair, drapped over one shouder. This girl walks in, came out of nowhere saying she needed a job, not asking for one. Looking back it was morea of demand really, and admirably that took guts. Telma was a large woman, she knew, and many people felt intimidated by her, but it was clear this small thing in front of her wasn't going to be frightened off by appearances. She held herself with genuine confidence.

"Truthfully, the intake of money is a necessity I'll bee needing to further my future. I was left a small fortune when my father passed, so money truthfully isn't a problem at this exact moment, but I know eventually that will whittle away and I want to have a good amount of safety net to befall upon when that happens. With my 'expensive hobbies', I know that's going to be sooner than I would like it to be so better get saving as soon as I can."

"Have you ever bartender before?"

"Not a lick."

"What about waitress experience?"

"The only thing I ever waited on was for the mail to arrive. But I can learn quickly. I'm adaptive. I can start tomorrow if you wish."

Telma laughed at the girl's determination. She already spoke like she hired her, and truthfully she was, in fact, greatly considering it.

"Tell you what. You come in. Watch how things are run. If you think you're up to the task I'll take you on."

"Deal." Telma stuck out her hand and the girl took it in her own to shake. "The name's Telma, but i'm sure you already knew that."

"Ember."

* * *

><p>It was a particularly busy night at Telma's Bar. Packed to capacity, there were some unfortunate (and very angry) people who had to be turned away. While not the only bar in town to speak of, it certainly was the most popular. Telma had a hard time keeping up with the drink orders, but she had managed pretty well so far.<p>

The thing about human nature is that people are very impatient. Unfortunatlly what little understanding of wait time they do have, gets smaller with every drink. So the more drinks someone had, the less time they wish to wait, and the more irritated they got.

Telma was busy with getting drink orders from a table when some drunk fool shouted to her over the crown.

"HEY? BARTENDER! I ORDERED MY DRINK FIVE MINUTES AGO! IT DOESN'T TAKE THAT LONG TO FILL UP A SIMPLE GLASS."

Before she had a chance to tell him to either shut up and wait or get out, some other idiot shouted that he had to wait his turn cause he had been waiting longer and he should get his first. This quickly elevated into near fisticuffs. Telma's heart sank when she saw the first guy start to raise fist to the other, the last thing she wanted to deal with tonight was a fight.

"HERE YOU GO BOYS! One double shot fireball whiskey, and for you sir, the hardest rum we have, as per your request. Its a good night for drinking is it not?" Ember came to the now standing ruffians and handed them both their respective drinks, both of them agreeing. "cheers then!" The two men raised their glasses, and just like that the situation was defused. "NOW WHO WANTED THE ROMANI RANCH SPECIAL?!" She wandered back off around the tables.

She wasn't even hired for a job, and still felt the need to help out. Ember said she was adaptive, and she meant it. Telma knew she was going to make a great worker.

Once everything had died down and it was well into the morning, Telma offered Ember to sit for a free drink as thanks for the help before she went home.

"That was some quick work there. I owe you one Honey." Telma raised her glass and respectfully Ember returned the gesture.

"It wasn't really so bad, those who are inebriated are quite easy to deceive into a different emotion since their senses are so distorted, they don't exactly process what's going on until they're too into it to care." she took a sip of her drink, it tasted like strawberries, but with a kick to it.

"You talk like that all the time?"

The girl looked at her in confusion and set her glass down.

"Like what?"

"All scholarly with your words. You remind me a a friend of mine. He does the same thing. Doesn't even realize it. You'll have to meet him sometime." She paused, thinking. "So I have to know. How did you know what drinks they wanted?"

"I didn't. Just gave them both shots of whisky and water. Said some random drink names. You know, antics like that."

Telma's laughter filled the now empty bar. Earlier you would have barely heard it over the chatter. Now though, it reverberated off the walls, making it louder than it really was.

"Well you really saved me a heck of a lot of trouble with that and I thank you." Ember nodded a 'your welcome'.

"Well I've had a long night. What do you say we both get some sleep and tomorrow I can start teaching you the proper way to serve a drink."

* * *

><p>"Oh my goddesses. What happened to your hair?" Telma Hurried over to her new employee. 'New' in the sense she had been there more than a week but less than three. "It's been burned off. Did you get in an accident are you okay?" Ember waved her off.<p>

"Ah it's okay I'm fine, I just had a bit of a hiccup mixing chemicals. There was an imbalance and it combusted and it got a little singed. That's all."

"Chemicals? Child what are you doing with such things, especially ones that set you on fire?" Telma led her over to a chair. "Sit, I'm going to fix this, I can't have you smelling like burnt hair. Honestly what were you thinking." She left to fetch some scissors behind her counter.

"I was trying to make synthetic chu jelly. I figure why go out and fight the things for it if I could just make it. In theory I should have worked." Her head was pushed forward and she felt her hair being snipped about.

"Is this the 'expensive hobbies' you were talking about?" The girl nodded, only to get a tap on the head, telling her to stay still.

"I tend to dabble a bit here and there with such sciences. Really though, I'd rather enjoy the main work I do."

"Dare I ask?"

"It's not that bad." She whined. "I work in the slightly less dangerous territory of invention. Though, instead of paying the bills, it takes from that fund."

"Inventor huh? So do you do things like finding new ways to bind books less expensively, or bettering the pluming system?"

She wasn't very pleased at the notion that her work was on such simple levels that other so called 'inventors' dwell at. Now she just wanted to impress Telma, so as to gain some dignity back.

"I work with clockwork mostly. No not just to make clocks, I'm talking automaton level clockwork. Though ironically, my new project I've been drafting is based about the simplicity of a pocket watch, I'm just trying to decide what to do with it. Just as well I have indeed built my own automaton, I created it to play chess. Unfortunately as a machine, it only played one set order of moves and had to be scrapped. But if I ever decide I want to build it again, I have it all down in a journal."

"I'm not sure if you're joking or not, honey-"

"I'm not. And I'd rather you didn't speak about my work so judgmentally or I should come into your tavern and call it a juice bar."

"Alright I get it." She answered softly. "I'm sorry I made it out to be common placed." She chuckled to herself and brushed the free from any stray hairs that had fallen upon her shoulders.

"Really though, you sound just like Shad. He's supposed to be back in town in a few weeks, I could introduce you then, I'm sure you two would get along well. Though I fear that if I do introduce you, There wouldn't be a moment's peace. The boy would talk until the sun goes down and rises again if you let him . . . you're done, sweety. Let me grab a mirror."

"I don't ramble on though. Not that much anyway."

"You get just as bad as him once you start talking." Telma handed her a silver tray that reflected quite nicely.

She looked at her hair through it. It was longer in the front, a bit fluffed up with strands that stuck out then her hair coming to two thin points just below her chin on either side of her. The back Has been cut short and spiked out straight back into a wild duck-tail. It was like a completely different style yet somehow contrasted perfectly.

"Well what do you think? I figure a name like 'Ember' has to have some firey look to go with it. And your color is perfect for it too. "

The girl turned her head from side to side. There was no indication it had been burnt in the first place. She ran her fingers through her new style. By habit she pulled her hands out more, a tad surprised to find empty air rather than the familiar feel of her soft hair. She would have to get used to the feeling.

"It's not something I would have picked for myself, but I'm loving the results." She turned around to face Telma. "I feel a bad for scaring you, I'm just not used to having to be pristine after getting dirtied by my work and it didn't even cross my mind."

Telma chukcled

"Thats alright honey, you can make it up to me by sweeping this floor."

Ember went to grab a broom and started sweeping up the burned hair.


	5. A Handsome Meeting

**A.N. PLEASE! REVIEW! I feel like i'm posting for nothing. Maybe a bit too sciency not enough fluff? I promise there will be fluff I just don't want it to be the main focus of everything. there will be a conflict, but for now it's more slices of life. Just please review as I am a downtrod little writter right now.**

Telma had been restacking the wine bottles behind a curtain that seperated a single table from the rest of the bar. It was usually reserved for royal gaurds of her personal friends, unless it got really busy, then she used the extra space to help out. For now though it was closed.

"Telma?" Ember came from behind the curtain with a sheepish apology written on her face. "You have someone here asking for you. I told them we were shut down for the day, but he's insistent on talking with you."

"What's he looks like?"

"Ahhh Kind of like . . he was . . ." She struggled to find the right description for the odd young man. "honestly the only thing that stuck out to me was he had this purple bow? I think it was a bow anyway. Not something you would usually see, but whatever works. I guess."

"That must be Shad. You know, the one I wanted to introduce you to. He's the only person I know who would wear such a ridiculous thing."

"I think it suits him quite well. Anyway, he's waiting in the front room for you."

"Come on with me you can meet him for yourself. Or I guess you already met him, but let me properly introduce you."

Telma took lead going to the main room where the young man patiently waited.

"It's good to see you've finally come back to civilization." her remark had a hint of sarcasm to it.

"Yes, well I figured it was time to take a break from my studies out on the field. The sky city is going to be there whether or not I take a few weeks off. You're not going to believe what I found this time!" The young man, Shad, couldn't contain the excitement in his voice. "I went back to the ruins of the temple in the deep Faron woods. And remember last time, I had told you we only uncovered a few hints of a once tremendous building and a few statues. But get this, there's a stone there that we originally surmised to be just another small alter, or marker, or something. But on closer investigation of the nature of it's purpose, there were trace amounts of magic woven- Oh I'm sorry, I've forgotten myself." He had been too busy relaying what he found to Telma that he hadn't noticed the young woman that had greeted him in earlier, standing off to the side behind her until now. "You have a new friend?"

Telma laughed a little.

"I was wondering when you would notice, though truthfully it was sooner than I expected you to. This is Ember, she works for me now. Don't ask me how that came to be, it's a long and boring story."

"I wouldn't find such things boring. The information is always welcome." He now addressed the girl in front of him by sticking out his hand. "I'm Shad, though I'm sure you've already figured that out."

She reached out shaking his hand. "Ember, It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ah so you're Ember." She looked at him confused. "Telma's mentioned you in her letters."

"All good things I hope." 'letters?' She turned to Telma a little accusingly. All Telma did was shrug an 'oh well'.

"Oh yes of course, mostly about telling me to come meet you, but she's also mentioned you do a bit of engineering. If you don't mind, I would love to hear more about that."

"Normally I would say yes, but right now I've hit a bit of a dry spot with it. I'm afraid there isn't much to tell on the matter." Shad looked a bit disappointed. He had been looking forward to talking with the person Telma found so interesting to go as for to write to him about her. But he wasn't one to push a young lady to do something she didn't want to do. "At the same time I think it's unfair you know about me an I hadn't been told much about you. Can I inquire about your 'expedition' or is that more of a hush, hush topic?" She certainly was interesting. Normally he had people telling him to stop his prattling. He found himself a little nervous about talking to her, thinking she would quickly get bored of him once he started to really talk.

"Why don't you two get acquainted while I finish up." Telma had gotten tired of standing in one spot, and knowing Shad, when you asked about his work, you got more than an earful. She felt a little sorry for Ember.

* * *

><p>She hadn't asked him to stop talking, hadn't gotten tired of the information he had to share, even encouraged him to continue when he felt he had to apologize for prattling on so long. The feeling of complete interested attention on him was definitely a change of pace. A foreign feeling for him, though not an unwelcome one. His feeling of nervousness left him when he figured out she genuinely wanted to hear about his research instead of asking for the sake of being polite. Though one question did weigh on his mind.<p>

"May I ask why you're interested in such a long winded topic?"

"Long winded? That makes it sound negative. To answer your question though, it's fascinating. It's a mystery to be solved, but there's always an answer to any puzzle. Personally, I'm more enticed by the impossibility people claim it to be. I view it as a challenge, really, to show it isn't. Though it isn't my place to try to figure it out, it is your work after all and you seem more than proud of it."

"Oh, no, I would welcome a bit of outside speculation. It isn't very often I get to really speculate with someone and get feedback. So please, by all means, share your thoughts."

"Sure, okay. Well first off, I think you've miscalculated one thing."  
>"What's that?"<p>

"You say this . . . "society" as you call it, is in the sky right?" He nodded confirmation so she continued. "Assuming it's above Hyrule since you told me we as a species are thought to derive from there, or you really, as I'm not Hylian." She tapped on her round ears and he took a quick glance to see, in fact, she wasn't "Back to it, if it's above us, you'd think we would be able to see it, but the fact that we cant, not with the human eye anyway, means it's much higher than any kind of flight would be able to take you too."

"Actually, about that." He interjected. "I had uncovered a kind of canon in Kakiriko, underneath the Shamen's hut. Though it's been moved to Lake Hylia, how I'll never understand, but the point is, it's unusable without an ignition feature. I beleive it was a special kind of transportation device able to launch you with enough force to reach such heights."

"That's terrifying. Course I've never really been one for any kind of aerial acrobatics. Especially it you miss that 'sky city'. I shudder at the thought of experiencing the fall."

"Scared of heights are you?"

Ember shook her head slightly.

"The height isn't the problem. I'm afraid of falling, specifically the sudden change in velocity that brings disphoria, and more importantly, the pain of the impact that follows suite. I'd prefer to stay with my feet on the ground thank you. But by all means if you want to insanely shoot yourself from a canon, be my guest."

Shad crossed his arms and made a disapproving noise that was mixed between a short hum and a sigh. Ember took notice of this.

"Apologies. That . . . didn't come out right. I didn't mean to offend."

"It's alright, I'm used to it." he relaxed his arms. "I've gotten you off track though."

"R-right, where was I?"

"About the how you can't see it from the ground."

"Yes, thank you. Well because the extreme elevations, I would think you would have to slowly acclimate yourself to the thinner air-pressure so as not to get altitude sickness but you say they had traveled from one place to the next quickly. What if they had a way of forgoing the effects, possibly with magic."

"I don't think it would be that high, even with magic, there wouldn't be enough oxygen for anything to thrive. It would make more sense if they used it to cloak the entire place closer to the ground."

"That would take up a lot depending on the size. No, what I'm thinking is they found how to create a favorable environment. Think about it, it would take less magic energy, or even if they have some kind of wind machines, just to gather the air around and acquiring a optimal atmosphere. It could be that it's sustain its self this whole time because once you have that, you can grow plants, of which make more oxygen in turn. The whole system is recycled in a never ending circle of life."

Shad just stared, he hadn't realized he leaned his self on the table, to listen closer to Ember's speculations.

"Incredible," He said quietly. "You have a fantastical way of thinking Miss Ember."

"Occupational hazard. And please, its just Ember."

"Okay . . . 'Just Ember'" He smirked. He may be dignified, but that doesn't mean he didn't have a sense of humor.

"Srk, you think your clever."

"I know I am." He raised his elbow and held his head up with a fist on his cheek. A look of dazed adoration aimed at the girl in front of him. "And from what I've surmised, so are you."

"Er-" a jolt went through her body and a blush rose on her face. She hadn't expected such a forward compliment. She met his eyes for half a second before shifting them to the side. "-t-thank you."

Shad released his head and stood up. Ember followed suit out of courtesy.

"It's been a real pleasure talking with you Ember. Can I see you again sometime? Maybe then I can get to know more about you instead of talking about myself the whole time."

"I'll be here whenever you want to come in."

"I usually frequent here anyways, so I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other." He reached out his hand to shake hers. "Until next time?"

"I'll be looking forward to it." She took his hand in hers, a split moment of excitement from the physical contact.

"Have a good night, 'Just Ember'." He chuckled to himself as he walked away and out the door. Ember could only stare after him.

"Man you two can talk up a storm." Telma appeared seemingly out of nowhere behind her. "It seems you got along well enough. What do you think?"

"He's handsome-"She jolted out of her trance turning toward Telma. "I-i-i mean he 'has some' interesting things to share." She knew she had failed at saving herself.

Telma leaned close to Ember, her hands on her hips and a mischievous look on her face.

"Someone's got a crush."

Ember put her hands in front of her in defense waving them and shaking her head

"I- No. I just . . .I think he's-" She struggled for words.

"Handsome?" Telma mocked. Ember's heart pulsed oddly in her chest at the word. Telma straightened up. "I think it's cute."

Ember clenched her jaw, trying to will away the glowing in her face.

"He's easy to talk to is all."

Telma raised an eyebrow. Ember knew she didn't believe her.

" . . . Please don't say anything." She laid her arms over one another and looked down.

"Don't you worry, honey" Telma put a hand on the flamey hair of the young girl, causing her to duck down a little. "I won't say anything about your attraction to Shad. Not directly anyway." She winked and turned away. "Time for you to go home though."

"Wait what's that supposed to mean, 'not directly'?" Telma said nothing. "Telmaaaa!" She whined.

"Go home Ember."

She knew she had been defeated.


	6. Tesla Coils and Tender Touches

**A.N. Dispite the lack of reviews, i shall keep posting my chapters. There has to be someone who will enjoy the story so i have not been deterred**

Ember was messing with a kind of bracer she had attached to her arm that day. It wasn't broken, just needed a little maintenance before the cogs started to rust and break . She had been waiting impatiently all day for a certain someone to show up so she could show him what she did for a 'living'. Finally the person she wanted to see stepped into the door. Ember turned to her boss, of whom was busy filling glasses to take out.

"Telma . . ." She started. "Can I take bit of a break?"

"You haven't really been working all that hard, It's been slow, why would you need a break?" She turned to Ember.

"Well . . ." Her eyes flickered to the young man she wanted to go talk to. Telma turned to see Shad standing at the usual table with the rest of the group that called themselves "resistance'.

"Ah I see now, you want to go visit with your lover."

Ember fumed red.

"Too far Telma. Too far."

"Maybe for now, but yes, go take your 'break'" She air quoted her fingers. The young girl's face lit up with an ear to ear grin.

"Thank you!" She hurried out and over to Shad's table. He was in listening to a conversation being held between a warrior girl and a middle aged man, of what she couldn't tell nor did she care.

"Shad," As she approached the table, the attention turned to her sudden presence. This made her uncomfortable. Shad turned to see her and smiled warmly. Her discomfort vanishing at his attention.

"Ah Ember, always good to see you." He turned back to the table of his friends. "Please excuse me for a second." he stepped away with Ember turned his attention back to the her.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?"

That flutter in her heart returned. But she couldn't pay attention to that, she had to focus right now.

"You've been asking about what I do." She raised her braced arm in front of him, "Well I thought I'd bring a small taste of my work. It's not real fancy, but it comes in handy on the offensive."

Shad adjusted his glasses to look at the thing being held up to him. There didn't seem to be anything special about it. Just a normal metal bracer to him. He was disappointed, he expected more from her.

"Ember I don't mean to be rude, but it's just bracer." This only made her smile, why he couldn't fathom.

"Come now, you should know better than that. It 'looks' like a normal bracer. You didn't think I would go through this trouble to so such a mundane thing."

Shad flicked his eyes to the side and back.

" . . . no"

"You're a terrible liar. Though you may want to sit down. This demonstration is not for the faint of heart."

He still doubted her, but nevertheless took a seat at the nearest open chair, turning it away from the table it came from. Ember took her seat in front of him so they were facing each other.

"Now watch."

She held her arm straight out and gripped a fist, clicking a trigger by her wrist, which in turn caused a chain reaction of gears clicking and springs releasing. A panel atop her bracer pulled back in on its self with a quick jolt making way for a silver disk-like mechanism underneath to appear and raise horizontally up just outside the opening. One last click and it extend apart from the middle two metal bars connecting them.

"Hold on," She held up her other hand to settle him as he opened his mouth to speak. "I'm not done yet." He could only look with anticipation and bewilderment at the strange thing attached to Ember's arm as it continued it's transformation.

She turned the bracer over, where it continued its constant ticking of clockwork. A moment of hesitation from the exterior of the machine before a device of sorts came out to the palm of her hand, where it rested perfectly to it's shape. A blue circle of sorts in the middle. A few more settling click and the whole thing went silent.

"Okay, now it's done. And you thought it wasn't anything special. So, what do you think?"

Shad didn't say a word. How could he? He hardly believed the young girl in front of him devised such a contraption. He started to get excited about learning more about what she called her 'hobbies' and could barely contain the elation in his voice.

"I-it's a lot more than I expected that's for sure. I couldn't have even imagined something like this would come out of such a simple defensive shielding. It's . . . Ember this is fascinating." He tore his eyes away from the machine to look at Ember who had a smug look on her face. "How did you fit all this in such a confined space?"

"Secrets of the trade my friend. But let's just say, there's always a way to make things work for you, such as finding how to go from three dimensional to it's flat second dimensional counterpart by building many layers. But I couldn't just tell you such a thing like that."

She pulled her arm out from in front of her as it was getting tired from the weight on it.

"The mechanics, I have to admit, are more than impressive. I have to ask, what exactly does it do?"

"I was waiting for that question." She laid her arm down on the table beside them, and pointed at the separated disk on top. "It takes the electric charge out from the air using this coil on the outer arm and stores it by jumping it back and forth between these to bars here." Shad leaned in closer for a better look at what she was alluding to. Ember then twisted it around and pointed to the blue disk in the palm of her hand. "Once it has enough, it then sends it to this outlet in my hand and I'm able to give a shock." She pulled a small sheet of metal out of her dust pocket that she had brought a long for demonstration. "I'm not going to do anything large, but just to show you I'm not just talk."

She turned the disk clockwise, connecting something below by doing so. For a moment nothing seemed to happen. And she took this time to explain.

"The outer ring on the coil is made of rubber, as is the inner lining in the arm, so I don't shock myself while touching it. Right now it's at a low setting, but if turned all the way around, it packs a powerful punch." Shad nodded in understanding, not knowing what else to say.

It only took a few seconds for the 'demonstration'. A few sparks of blue jumped between the gap of the disk and soon grew to an adequate amount of electricity. Ember held her hand a good foot over the piece of metal she had set on the table. Pushing her wrist down to connect two prongs wrapped in rubber to the rest of the arm. A small, quick jolt of electricity, jumped from her hand to the metal, making it vibrate and jump, hitting the side of her modified bracer before clattering to the ground a few feet from them. It was bent with a scorch mark clearly visible on one side. She realized she may set it just a tad to high.

"EMBER! Quit trying to destroy my bar! Now, turn that thing off." Telma shouted at her from across the room. She quickly turned the gauntlet off, not wanting to be scolded anymore.

"Opps, um, maybe this wasn't the best of places for this."

Shad laughed in amusement and plastered an impressed smile on his face. "Fantastic display my dear. May I?" He gestured to her invention.

"By all means, please, just let me-" She reached to unlatch it from her arm, but Shad had already had it in his hands. One holding the piece underneath for support, the other, holding her own, with his thumb on top of her hand with the rest of his fingers curled underneath. The gentle contact, made her face pencil red. Thankfully to her, he was to busy studying the bracer to notice.

He gently pulled her arm closer to him so he could peek inside the opening under the disk. From what he could see, a series of gears lay horizontal in the inner workings, small and most likely meticulously put in place.

"Fascinating." He said with a slow draw. "I suppose most of the work was put into making it inconspicuous rather than the actual function?"

"Well you would have to hide it somehow, you walk into some place with an obvious weapon on your arm, you're going to get kicked out. I learned this the hard way." Ember paused, nervousness took in her voice. "Shad?"

"Yes Ember?" He turned her hand over, cupping it in both his, to study the pad on her palm.

"When I said you could take a look, I was hoping I could take it of first." He looked up, a moment of confusion then a quick stutter of apology and a flush to his face followed suit.

"Goodness, I've gotten ahead of myself. F-forgive me. I should have waited, but yes, if you could, that would be grand."

"I would love to do that . . . But you'll have to let go of my hand first."

"Hm? Oh yes of course." He quickly let go, realizing he was indeed still holding it.

"S-sorry. I sometimes get so wrapped up in everything, I don't really pay attention to what I'm doing."

Ember quietly laughed. Unlatching the side, releasing her arm.

"It happens to the best of us. Here, please be careful." She held it out to him and he gingerly took it in his hands. Turning it over every which way, trying to figure it out.

"And you made this?"

"Yes."

"Do you do this on your own or do you seek outside help?"

"I give credit where credit is due, but this particular make is fully mine." He turned it front and back, looking for a way to shut it down.

"How does it go back to it's original state?"

"Hold it out for me, and watch your fingers." He put his hands on either side of the arm openings and steadied his elbows on the table. She put her finger on a small piece, barely poking out from the inside top of the wrist.

"This lever is used to bring it out when you push it up. Just, release everything by pushing it back down." She clicked it, and with clicking and ticking, it slowly went back to it's original state, the opposite way it came out. The last thing it did before settling, was slam the top panel shut, making Shad jump a little when it did. He didn't know why though, he knew it was coming.

"There's a coil inside that has to be wound back as well. I have a special turn key for that back home. It's a bit of a nuisance but, it's necessary." She took the piece from Shad's hands and set it down. "So now you know a bit of my trade."

"Well sort of. You can't possibly just make such electrifying armor pieces. What other sorts of engineering do you do?"

"I specialize in the workings of clockwork. You know, tick tock, it's a clock." He chuckled at her rhyme. "Not necessarily all of it ends up being something that tells time. It's just what I'm best at; the mechanics it takes to make something happen from artificial force being transferred into the beauty that is clockwork. That, my curious friend, is what I do."

"I don't mean to pry, but would you mind terribly if I could see your workshop? I'm very much interested."

Ember hesitated. Feeling uncomfortable in the prospect of other people around her personal space.

"I'd rather not. While I'm glad to have met you, and we do get along fairly well, I haven't known you for long, two weeks at best. I'm rather protective of it, you see."

A little saddened by this he still accepted it.

"I understand."

"Maybe once I know you better you can come see."

Shad brightened

"Then I have another reason to be in your company." The added quickly, "n-not that I didn't enjoy it before." he cleared his throat "Ah, right . . . um," and fumbled to compose himself. "I-I'm keeping you from your job." He stood up a little too quickly, rattling the chair behind him, he turned quickly to quiet it, only to make it worse before he finally settled it. "**Ehem** I-i-i should go, back to my other f-friends." Ember suppressed as laugh. "Good day E-ember." he took his leave to his table while Ember went back to work.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid. Dammit Shad get it together. For once can you not be a blundering fool around her?'

"Shad, I didn't know you had it in you." Rustle spoke to him as he approached.

"Had what?" He mused as he sat down. Ashie grabbed his shoulder, causing him to lean and screw his glasses.

"You're new love interest, he means, yeah?" She bluntly put it. "What did you call her? Amber? When did this happen?

"Firstly," Shad shooed her hand away off his shoulder. "It's Ember." He pushed the bridge on his glasses back onto his face. "Secondly, she's not a 'love interest', she's more of a colleague. We share topics of information and she was showing me a contraption she had made since I had asked her. And We met mutually through Telma a few weeks ago. I didn't want to really tell you, Ashie especially, because I knew you'd make it out to be something it's not."

"Didn't look that way to me. What with you looking at her with puppy-dog eyes, and no doubt you stuttered a lot too. Good going with that chair by the way, real smooth."

'Godesses, don't remind me of that disaster.' he thought to himself. He glared at her.

Ashie crossed her arms, not realizing his growing frustrations with her. "If I were you, I'd take the opportunity. Not many girls will go for such a nerd like you."

Shad flushed with a more than angry look to accompany it.

"Ashie, manners." Auru interjected. "If you want to insult people, take it elsewhere. Leave the boy alone."

"Sorry Shaddy-boy, you know I don't mean to be mean."

"Please don't call me that." He hid from her by putting his hand to his face in annoyance.

Rustle interjected so as not to raise a fight between the two. "Soooooo when do we get to properly met this new friend of yours?"

"I'm reluctant to do such a thing." He said a bit of disdain in his voice.

"We'll behave I promise." Rustle elbowed Ashie. "Right?"

"Jeez yes, I get the point. I won't say anything about his not-girlfriend. No matter how tempting it is."

Rustle sighed, it was as close as she was going to get.

* * *

><p>"So you're Shad-boy's girlfriend huh?"<p>

Shad put his face in his hand and sighed.

"How many times have I asked you not to call me that?"

'Din dammit Ashie, just one thing. I ask you ONE thing I ask you not to do and the first thing out of your mouth is exactly that.'

"Ehh, not quite. Although technically speaking if you look at it from a non-subjective point of view I am a friend who's a girl. So I'm a girl friend, but not a girlfriend."

"Oh sweet Farore there's two of them now." Ashie groaned.

"Excuse me?" Ember raised an eyebrow taken aback by the brash tone in the other girl's voice.

Auru, leaned over to her.

"You'll have to excuse Ashie, She means well, but her behavior is . . ."

"Unrefined?" she offered.

"Exactly. The name's Auru, by the way. The other man beside Ashie is Rustle, and don't worry, we aren't as brash as some people." Ember stifled a giggle. "Good to meet a new friend of Shad's."

"Likewise."

**A.N. REVIEW PLEASE! that's all i have to say.**


	7. Anything You Ask

Ember hadn't slept last night. After her sudden epiphany, she couldn't stop thinking the possibilities of her newest concept piece. Eventually she gave up trying to get to sleep and left her bed to get dressed and start drawing the concept. Usually she would sketch it on paper or in her journals, but this required an actual-size template for build reference. She scurried to her work bench and grabbed a few small sticks of chalk. She got down on her knees and scraped an arch on the wooden floor before her. She would just draw out the prints then return to bed. That was her plan anyway.

Her plan didn't work, she ended up keeping awake through the whole night doing 'just one more detail'. 'Just one more calculation.' She only realized this when the morning sun decided it was going to shine right into her eyes. She put her hand up to her face to shield it and blinked a few time.

"Din." she cursed. She was supposed to take morning shift today. Her head turned to the clock. She panicked when realizing she only had a short time before she was supposed to be at the bar. Hurriedly she rushed out the door, then back in a few seconds later to grab her boots by the door.

Ember ran barefooted through the morning rush of people trying to set up shop. More than once she almost bumped into them trying to put on one of her boots while still keeping in motion.

She only turned to call a quick 'sorry' to the unhappy persons as she hopped on one foot, the other halfway booted. By doing so, she tripped on herself and prepared for an impact that never came.

"In a hurry, yeah?" Ashie had been on her own way to the same destination when Ember nearly ran into her as well but caught her arm when she tripped on her own feet. She laughed rudely at the shocked look on her young friend's face. "Slow down before you destroy something."

"Ashei! Hi, um" She steadied herself and Ashie let go of her arm. She took this moment of pause to slip into her other boot. "I'm sorry but i'm kinda in a rush-"

"I've noticed. Even if you were on time, you think Telma would let you walk in like that?"

"Like what?" She looked down at herself, her pants and hands were covered in white chalk dust, even more so noticeable since her pants were black. No doubt she had in on her face too as Ember had the habit of touching her face when she was thinking. "Oh . . right, I-i'll take my chances. But I really have to go, I'm sorry for the abrupt leave." Ember turned and ran with more caution the rest of the way. Ashie shook her head and headed the same way herself.

When Ember walked in the door, she was greeted with a less than happy call of her name from Telma.

"what on earth do you have on you this time?"

Ember sheepishly hurried over behind the counter and to the sink.

"Chalk . . . " She squeaked out, running her arms under the water.

"Chalk?" Telma crossed her arms. "Really, just chalk?"

She took a cloth and wet it, rubbing her face free of the white dust.

"I swear, just chalk. I didn't even tamper with it."

Telma narrowed her eyes, trying to decided if she was telling the truth. After a few seconds of scrutiny and and childish smile of 'I'm innocent I swear' from Ember, she gave in.

"Honestly, child, what am I going to do with you?"

"Enjoy my wonderful company?"

The older woman rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"That's not my job, that's Shad's."

"Telma!" Ember's faced grew hot, she quickly scanned the place for any sign of said scholar. Thankfully he was not.

"You were late, I think I get at least one today." She pat the embarassed inventor on the shoulder. "Start on hanging up the meats on the rack, they're in a crate by the door, and dust the wine racks along the walls. And Farore's sake, please use a step-stool this time, I don't need you falling again."

Ember winced, remembering the first time Telma had told her to do that. She hadn't informed her there was a step-stool and she promptly lost her balance from standing on the back of a chair. It did not bode well for her.

At any rate she went over to the crate holding todays supply of meats and opened it. It was lined with a thin sheet of metal and filled with ice spread around the provisions. She grabbed two large pieces of what she assumed to be the ribs of a cow and carried them over to the rack behind the bar counter.

She wasn't exactly thrilled to be handling the stuff. Not because she found it disgusting, she loved her meat just as much as the next guy, but it made her hand uncomfortably cold. She would end up having to stop every once in a while to warm them up under running sink water.

"You know she's punishing you, yeah?"

"Ashie? I didn't hear you come in." Ember hung up the last of the hand freezing torture device and turned to the iron clad girl, who was now leaning on the counter.

"You were too busy getting scolded when I came in." Ashie smirked. "Least she didn't send you home. Course I'm not sure that would be a bad thing for you. You could use some sleep."

"That noticeable?"

"You look like a raccoon. Did you get any sleep last night?"

Ember shook her head.

"I was . . . drawing plans all night."

"I'd ask, but you'll go on forever."

Ember rolled her eyes. She had gotten use to Ashie's rude speech. She didn't think the warrior even noticed when she did it.

"The short version then, bla bla, chalk drawing on floor, bla bla, flight machine, bla, bla I'm making one."

Ashie paused, then slowly started to laugh heartily.

"You're a riot Ember. Seriously though, a flight machine? Like to make people fly?"

`"Yeah, I'm getting together the plans at the moment, when i'm finished it'll allow one to fly just like, or at least fairly close to, a bird. I've got an airomatic pressure sytem-"

"And you lost me. Thanks Ember, but I don't do the whole geek speak. I'm gonna go sit down."

Ember was taken aback. 'geek speak'? She had to admit while there was a ring to the rhyme, she didn't quite like having it directed to her. Ember laid her head in her folded arms on the counter and sighed into a pout. Mumbling to herself and staring at the edge of her arms.

"I'm not a geek. I'm an intellectual."

"Depending on who you ask it's the same thing." Ember shifted her head up to see Shad across from her, mimicking her stance with his own head in his arms. "Hello Ember." He smiled at her with that half lidded expression he always seemed to wear around her. "Had a rough morning?"

Ember straighten, as did he.

"How did you-"

"I saw you running this morning."

"Oh." She tucked her head to the side.

"Don't worry, I don't think any less of you. I can't say I haven't had my fair share of morning fumbles myself."

Imagining him in such a silly state made her laugh.

"Have you gone running covered in chalk barefooted down the street?"

"I can't say I've had the pleasure. Though I will admit at one point I was in such a hurry I grabbed my jacket without putting a shirt on."

Ember snickered.

"Did you walk out like that? All exposed and what have you?"

"Ah . . . well." He avoided eye contact with her.

"Nayru, you did." There was a slight hint of childish joy in her voice. "You're suck a dork, Shad."

"At least I'm not reckless."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She feigned innocence.

A calm silence settled between the two. A fluttering feeling in Ember's chest started up.

"I-i should get back to work. I'm a bit surprised Telma hasn't scolded me yet for slacking." She grabbed clean cloth in her hand to start wiping the dust off bottles with. "Um . . . wait for me to get off? I want to show you something spectacular."

He nodded.

"Of course, I'll wait for however long you need me to."

There was that feeling again. Damn him.

* * *

><p>"So would you care to tell me what spectacular thing you have this time?" Shad asked as they walked along to her home.<p>

"You'll see soon enough. Just be patient."

"You torture me." He teased

"It's my job. Who else is going to do it?"

"Ashie."

"She does that all the time, it doesn't count." She pouted.

"Careful Ember, your jealous is showing."

Ember flushed.

"Of what? Being rude? Yeah Shad, the competition on that is hard to top." She paused as he chuckled at her. "Besides, I can't get jealous, I'm too logic oriented." She stopped at her door and unlocked it, she stepped in and blocked Shad with her arm. "Ah, hold on." She pointed at his feet "Shoes off."

He looked at her quizzically.

"The reason please?"

"I have plans on the floor and I don't want you scuffing them up. Now shoes off or I swear I will flip you on your back and take them off myself."

He sighed, bending to remove his shoes and put the right inside the door. Ember had already done the same and was stepping over chalk lines on the floor that made up plans for what looked to him like wings from a dragon.

"Is this what you've been up to lately? Why you were covered in chalk today?"

Ember nodded.

"Yep, remember when we had that discussion about building a human flying machine, well I think I figured out a way to actually do it."

"What about your pocket watch?"

Ember huffed.

"That damn thing is giving me a headache, i've been up for the past few nights trying and failing to figure it out. So I'm taking a break from cog, springs and gears to work on something more achievable. I have most of it figured out, I just need the fine details of it and the parts."

Shad continues to look at her floor plans, one hand on his chin in contemplation.

"okay, so the plans are sound for the actual flight, but what about sustaining it?" She held out her pointer fingers in front of her.

"Ah, now that's the best thing." She gently skipped about the plans to her workbench. Shad couldn't help but smile at how silly she looked doing it. He'd follow her, but he was afraid of scuffing her hard work. "I had actually been working on that Din forsaken clock, experimenting with ways of limitless force, one of them being a air pressure system, the only thing is you couldn't sustain it without and outside force to pump the air." Ember started to talk fast in her excitement. "I had thrown other plan in frustration on the floor, and its a good thing I did too, because if I didn't I would have never seen an old rendition of what you see before you, only this one is better, more thought out, see?" She held up the old plans, they were more simply drawn, seeming as if it was drawn by her when she didn't have the skills for plans. "If I can get the movement of a bird in flight, or bat even, then I could attach the air system to the inner end of the wings to help pump air out behind you for that extra force needed. But the BEST thing is, "She picked up her small model of the air system and danced back over to Shad, while still taking at lightning speed. "With this, When it draws air in, you get the suction pulling you forward as well as the push from behind." She was close to him, smiling like a child on their birthday. For Ember it might as well have been.

"Okay calm down." Shad chuckled at her excitement. He put his hands on her shoulder to steady her giddyness. Instantly the tense in her from being worked up slackened, But her smile still held. "I have no doubt you can do-"

"I want you to help with it." She interrupted, his expression blanked, eyebrows raised.

"W-what?"

"Ah sorry, I should ask if you would like to, but Shad I can't exactly do this one on my own, I can write out a concept in detail, but when it comes to this certain one, I'd need an extra set of hands." She flicked her eyes down then up again. "So I was thinking, maybe you could, ah, would like to, that is if you're not busy-"

"Ember, I would love to." He said gently, Smiling down at her with that certain adoring look that made her heart sing with joy every time.

"Really?"

"Of course, I'd like nothing more."

"G-great." A moment passed, before a look of realization crossed his face, he still had his hands on her shoulders, and had been absentmindedly stroking his thumbs up and down. He released her.

"S-sorry."

"You apologize too much, you know."

"Sorry." He flushed, realizing he just did it again. Ember rolled her eyes.

"You're a dork."

He accepted her teasing nickname. Normally when he was called that, it was Ashie making fun of him and he loathed the word. For whatever reason though, he found he didn't mind when Ember did it, it was kind of endearing really.

"I know . . . So, you wanted my help, well." He swung his arms out. "I'm at your disposal. I'll do anything you ask."

"Don't give me that option I'll take full advantage of it."

He hummed.

"I trust you not to."

'why do you do this to me Shad? I swear you're tempting me on purpose.'

"Alright, can you draw?"

"Well enough I suppose."

"Good, well then," She motioned for him to follow around her chalk lines instead of through it like she'd boldly been doing. She picked up the book she kept most of her ideas in and handed it to Shad. "Can you copy what I have on the floor to here?"

"I'm sure I can manage."

"Notes and all?"

Shad looked back to the floor, he could make out most of the notes, but at some points her writing had been rushed and the meaning escaped him.

"I may have to ask for help on that."

"Fair enough." He took a seat in the chair she kept at the desk, facing the floor out in front of him. While he studied the plans, trying to determine, the best way to start the task she had given him, Ember got down on her hands and knees and started on a new set of lines, marking out how the joints of the 'wings' would work.

Shad crossed one leg over the other and rested his hand on his leg, holding the book so he could see what he was doing as well as needing only to glance up to view the bigger set. He started to sketch, and a long draw of silence settled in the room. The only sound for a while was the clicking of chalk in Ember's hand and the scritch of the pencil in his.

Shad had drawn, erased, and drawn again, to make sure everything was as accurate as he could make it.

"Do you always, start on the floor with things?" Silence. He looked up to see she was focused on writing something down from what he could see at a glance 'locking mechanism, on ball bearing, resist force of air.'

"Ember?" She suddenly looked up, thrown off, as she almost forgot he was there.

"Yeah?"

"I asked if you always started your projects like this." He motioned to the chalk design.

"Oh. N-no, not always, but I keep the floor un-carpeted for the off-chance I do need a larger space, especially if I know I'll be making a lot of changed in it. Chalk is just the easiest to erase and change." She started to continue her note before she forgot what she was doing, but still addressed his question. "If I could I would make the whole floor one giant chalkboard. This one though, isn't just a pre-plan. It also functions as the template I'm going to use for measurements."

"I see, two birds with one stone then."

"Exactly."


	8. Odaxelagnia You Shouldn't Do That

**A.N. this is my favorite chapter so far . . . you'll see why . . . you'll see **

**let's just say you're in for a treat ^/u/^**

**also. a big shoutout to bookwormsrule. my first reviewer for the story. thank you for your kind words. i know it may not seem like much, but you've motivated me to keep posting since i know at least one person likes my story enough to follow. you're awesome and i love you. all the hetero.**

A snap of chalk sounded."Shit."

Shad woke with a start at Ember's sudden swearing. At some point he moved to the couch, where it was more comfortable to sit, took his jacket off and continued copying from there. He summed that he must have fallen asleep after a while

"What time is it?"

She set her chalk down, rubbing her eyes with the clean palm of her hands.

"A little past 2AM."

Shad readjusted his glasses and turned to to clock on her wall to confirm. He mentally kicked himself for being here so late. Ember stopped rubbing her eyes, only to yawn right after.

"You could have woken me. Now I feel terrible for leaving you to do all the work."

"I tried, you were um . . . heavy . . . shit what's the word. Heavy . . . sleeper that's it, heavy sleeper. Godesses, my brain is shot." He noticed she tended to curse more when tired.

"Are you alright, Ember?"

"Yeah, just a bit sleep deprived. Nothing to worry about." She picked up her chalk she had dropped, setting the tip down on the floor and slower than she had started, tried to keep writing. Ultimately she failed when her hand didn't have the coordination to hold it properly, causing her to drop it. She groaned slightly in frustration, and attempted again, focusing everything on keeping the chalk in hand.

"Ember?" Shad started worriedly. One night's loss of sleep doesn't usually take on an effect this early. Come to think of it, she had looked worn for wear all day. Her upbeat energy distracted him from noticing. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Ah. Hang on let me think." She paused, still staring at her words, chalk unmoving. "Two days? Maybe? Ah, what day was it I sat with you for tea at Telma's? I think it was then."

"Ember that was four days ago."

"Was it?"

Shad snapped the journal shut, and walked over to Ember, socks thudding against the wood floor. "You need to sleep."

"Just a bit more and I promise I will."

He huffed.

"No, now. You can't keep this up. Ember, I'm worried about you. You're pushing yourself too far."

Ember, sat back on her legs, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"I'm fiiiine, really." She whined. "I've gone longer . . . maybe . . have I?"

"Okay, I've heard all I need to. Ember give me the chalk." He made to take it out of her hands but she pulled away.

"Hold your horses, I'm in the middle of a thought"

"You can barely think right now as it is, Now give it to me." She pulled away again, causing him to have to go on his knees as well. "Ember. Really now. Stop this silliness"

"Just. I Said hold on." She put it down again to write. He snatched it quickly out of her hand, sitting up and holding it away from her. "Give that back." She growled.

"We can continue tomorrow, you can barely keep your eyes open, let alone do any critical thinking."

"My thinking is fine, clear as a whistle." She reached to take it back but he held his arm straight up. Out of her reach.

"The phrase is clean as a whistle, and that doesn't even fit right anyway."

"You're starting to really irritate me."

"Good, maybe you'll listen to me then." She tried to pull his arm down to get her chalk back. But Shad held her down at her other shoulder. At this point she was through trying to get her writing utensil back, right now she was just angry with Shad.

"Fine, if you want it that way-" In her tired, feral state, she only thought of one thing to do on instinct. She put one hand on the right of his neck, and sunk her teeth into the crook of the other side.

Shad dropped the chalk and instead used that hand to wrap around her back, finger digging into her shirt. His other arm held him up as he slumped forward. A grunt of pain escaped him, satisfying Ember's want for revenge.

"Hnnnnn, Ember, you shouldn't bite there." He said through gritted teeth.

'like hell, you took my chalk.'

She shifted and bit down harder causing his whole body to tense and make him tilt his head back as well as claw into her back more. A louder sound of pain sounding somewhere between a groan and a hum.

"Embeeeer, haaaa, sweet Nayru please don't stop that feels amazing." He breathed it out quickly, without thought to what he was saying.

'wait what?'

She released him pushing back from him. It hit her quickly that he hadn't made sounds of pain, but of pleasure. Her face was in surprise and she watched her glasses clad friend go into shock. His face and ears ablaze. His hand went to where she bit to calm himself.

"I-i-i'm sorry. I just. That's . . I-i'm really sensitive t-there. I didn't m-mean . . .oh dear. I'm terribly sorry. I would never-"

"Shad" He stopped "Shut up."

"Okay" he practically whispered it.

He looked down, averting her gaze. Silently shaming himself for letting the unintentional electricity of the action to take him over. Even more ashamed he had enjoyed it. The worst of it being he wanted her to do it again. Goddesses, what did she just do to him?

Ember, on the other hand, was trying to process what just happened. Despite her extreme lethargy, her mind was now alert enough to tell her what feeling she caused him that made him call to her so sensually. If she didn't feel that thumping in her chest before, she certainly was feeling it now. The adrenalin from it put her on full attention.

"Move your hand." She asked hoarsely. He didn't say a word, didn't look up, just obeyed. She saw she had left a heavy mark on him. She stood and walked to her kitchen area toward the icebox in the corner.

Shad listened to her moving around. He wondered if she was upset with him or if she thought less of him. Aside from her fatigued behavior, she had always seemed so professional around him, albeit a little over excited at times, but still kept herself in check. Even the times when he was to distracted in his thoughts to sever prolonged physical contact. She always reminded him to do so, without any hint of being uncomfortable. This though, was on a completely different level, it wouldn't be something she could just roll of her shoulders like every other time. This was on a more sexually intimate level. Why couldn't he have the strength to push her away?

A sigh from in front of him sounded and a second later an icepack appeared in his field of vision.

"Here . . . to keep it from bruising too much." He dared a look at her, shame written on his face, only to have a returned soft expression of 'It's okay, don't worry about it.' That soft understanding smile she had every time he messed up in cases of closeness with her. It made him feel worse for doubting her understanding.

He shifted his eyes down again, grabbing the cold package and pressing it against the spot she had been attacking no less than two minutes ago. The cold helped him to calm his body down.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her sit down beside him, arms loosely around her knees. Silent. It was comforting to know she still wanted to be around him. For a split second his mouth twitched into an ever so slight grin.

"Gripping my hair." Ember broke the silence.

He turned to her, surprising himself he was brave enough to do so. She was looking forward, her face blushing hard.

"What?"

"When I have my hair gripped firmly, it has the same effect." She turned to look him in the eye, that understanding grin still on her face. He raised his brow in slight shock at the information she had just given him. "So now you have a personal secret of mine too . . . it's only fair." It may have seemed to Shad she was calm and collected, but in reality, Ember was extremely antsy and feeling emotionally exposed, she practically was yelling at herself for telling him that. It was her turn to avert her eyes. "I'm sorry for that. If I had been more awake, I wouldn't have done it."

Shad hesitated speaking.

"Do you think less of me for . . . saying those things?" He turned his head down, his courage to look at her finally leaving him.

"It was . . . unexpected," she swallowed, "but no, I don't think less of you, nor will I hold it against you. Lets just forget the whole thing, I won't bring it up again if you don't want me to."

"Yeah, okay." He finally started to really smile. She stood up and offered her hand to him. He took it and pulled himself upright. This time, remembering he had to let go once he did.

"It's late, you're welcome to the couch if you want. Unless you'd rather go home."

"N-no that should be fine."

* * *

><p>As always Shad woke early. Though, this particular morning, it was much harder to wake up. Why, he didn't know, but he just wanted to go back to sleep. Not because he was tired, but he just didn't want to get up. He knew, though, that once he was awake, he was awake. He sighed as he uncurled his arm from under the blanket and reached over to his nightstand for his glasses. His hand found it sooner than he was used too but though nothing of it as he picked up his glasses. He swung his legs over the side of his bed, which had somehow become a lot shorter, or he was somehow taller. He was confused until his glasses were safe over his eyes.<p>

It wasn't his house he was in. His 'bed' was a sofa and the 'nightstand' a coffee table in front of him.

"Right." He said to himself. "Ember's." Last night's happenings came back to him and he felt his heart heave. His hand went to the left side of his neck, fingers gently brushing the spot she had bitten. Remembering the wonderful feeling he had experienced, he closed his eyes and breathed in. He relived the moment, Ember close to him, him holding her tight, the stern force behind her bite without major hurt.

'no, stop. Don't do this to yourself. You have more respect for her than that.'

He dropped his hand from his neck and sighed disappointed and wondered if it was wrong of himself to enjoy remembering such a thing. He had to take his mind off this or it was going to drive him insane.

He figured it would be rude of him to leave without letting Ember know, but she was still asleep and he didn't want to wake her. He opted to finish what he started in the black book. It would keep his mind occupied for the time being. He stood, grabbing the journal from the table in front of him and went to nest in the chair he had used last night. He opened to the page he had marked with a pencil and tried to remember where he had left off. Once he found it, he started sketching, and writing things down. 'holes in fabric (possibly from dragon) to attach to frame-' Where in Hyrule was she going to get such a thing? '-with strong wiring or somehow melded to frame from below for better aerodynamics-' he couldn't read the rest of it and made a mental note to ask the engineer when she was up. He moved onto sketching the joint system, comprised of a ball bearing that could rotate more than just up and down and after that 'bird wings flap in circular motion, need full mobility of this.-' Admittedly he did not know this. Clever though. ' bearings, with no more room for motion than 45 degrees from center point, or possible collapse of wings in flight. Put extra L shape in front for locking mechanism. push forward and down to lock, the opposite to release, used for stability of wings against wind.'

He took several more scribblings for the joint's down and looked over for anything else he could write. Hi eyes landed on a spot oh the far side of the plans, it was smudged, illegible. It was the spot Ember and him had-

'NO!'

He couldn't let himself subject to such thinking. It was wrong of him to use Ember's actions for his own enjoyment. That would make him no better than some ruffian, taking advantage of a lady's trust. He was not that kind of person. He especially didn't want to be that person to Ember. She deserved better than that from him.

He was knocked out of his self loathing when he heard a rustle of sheets to his left. He figured Ember had finally woke. He looked up to see her reluctantly pull the blanket from over her head and sit up with a yawn and stretch her arms in the air. It seemed she was still a little groggy from finally getting sleep after several days without. He watched amused as she half consciously pulled herself off the bed and walked out from under the low ceiling. She turned and looked up for a minute at the loft as if to think remember how to get up there. Finally she turned her gaze away from the upper floor and shuffled to pick up a piece of chalk from the floor, she went to the wall that pulled out underneath the bathroom upstairs and wrote on it, sketch something out then paused and wrote something else underneath. She dropped the chalk where she stood and continued to the kitchen.

Curious, Shad focused on what the had put up on the wall. It read 'construct weight counter balanced pulley system. Tired of using stairs' Then a crude sketch of a platform with line going up to a wheel and down to a weight. Underneath was written 'I hate stairs.'

Shad chuckled quietly at Ember's morning musings. He wondered shortly whether she frequently had ideas so early after she woke up.

'I guess the annoyance of a morning routine will give you some inspiration to make things easier.' He thought.

"DIN!" he jumped at the sudden yelp from Ember and snapped his head her direction. "Shad you scared the hell out of me." She switched the glass of water she was holding to her other hand and shook the other one free of water. She must have spilled it when she was caught of guard at his presence.

"Morning." He sheepishly offered.

"Yes, good morning." She said, not to pleased from being surprised right after she woke up. "What are you doing here so early anyway? Did you let yourself in or something?"

He winched at her unhappy tone. Maybe she WAS upset with him.

"I . . . slept on your couch."

"Oh . . . right, sorry I forgot you stayed after the um-" she circled her hand around the air, and cleared her throat "the . . . thing." he could see her face getting a little pink.

"Yeah, that."

"Right, sorry for the morning irritability. I'm not use to having to socially function right away. Please don't take it personally."

"No I understand. I'm more glad you aren't upset with me."

"Oh goodness no," She waved him off. "Things happen. Don't worry, I'm not in anyway unhappy with you." She walked over to the couch and set her glass down on the table before flopping down to sit. She let her head lull back and closed her eyes. Shad sat awkwardly in the chair he was in, not really sure what to do. He almost thought she had fallen back alseep when she spoke up, not making to move an inch.

"What do you say about an outing to Death mountain?"

"What for?" He stood to make his way to the couch, sitting the other side of her.

"Materials. They have the best metal there." She picked her head up and reached forward to take a drink from her glass. Then pulled her legs up on the couch and tucked the to her side and leaned against the arm, facing Shad. "I siphon from their scrap yard every once in a while. I can even commission for it to be smelted exactly how I need it to be.

"Sounds like a reasonable plan."

"To an extent. It'll take a few days, just as a fair warning. You don't have to come with if it's asking too much."

"I made a promise to do whatever task you ask of me. If a trip to Kakariko you need, then I shall oblige."

Ember chuckled.

"Your integrity never fails does it?"

"I wouldn't be a gentleman if I didn't keep my word. Is Telma going to be okay with you being out for a few days?"

"I don't see why not." Truth be told, she knew Telma would more than happily let her go if Ember told her she was going with Shad. The woman encouraged her being around him. "I wonder if she'll let me borrow her wagon too." She thought about it, biting her bottom lip a bit. "Ah well, I can ask her today before I get to work, by any luck she'll let me go today."

"We should go now then, possibly get an early start." He stood, grabbing his purple jacket off the arm of the couch, slipping it around his arms. He felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Maybe you shouldn't come with me to do that."

"Why ever not?"

" **hrm**, the uh . . ." She pointed to the crook of her neck and shoulder. "It's pretty noticeable, even with your collar over it."

His face grew hot.

"Better not then. Would you mind terribly if I stayed here?"

"Not at all., make yourself at home."

**A.N. this is a major turning point in the flirtationship. let me tell you. things will NOT be the same after this. no matter how much they pretend it is.**

**as always, please review.**


	9. Trip For Two

**A.N. Just a head's up, thi chapter is a bit slow, though there is a bit of Character development for Ember at the end.**

"Telma, can I ask a huge favor?" Ember ask from across the counter to the bar owner.

"Well it depends on what it is." Telma crossed her arms. "Is it going to anyway harm, or break something?"

Ember huffed.

"You know, not everything I do is reckless."

"No, but more often then not it is." She chuckled to herself. Ember couldn't argue with that. "What's your favor sweetie?"

"Oh well, I was wondering if maybe we could borrow your wagon to take to kakariko? And possibly a few days off?"

"'We' huh?" Telma put her hand on her hips and leaned forward. "Does this 'we' include a certain man with glasses." She winked. "just the two of you?"

Ember blushed noticeably.

"Ahm Yes . . . I need some help said he was happy to come along and offer his assistance."

"I Think it would be nice for you two to get away for some alone time."

"It's not like that. It's just business."

"What kind of 'business' exactly are you talking about?"

"Nothing you're thinking. He's been helping me with a new device I'm working on. I need to get some scrap metal from the Gorons and could bare to have an extra helping hand." She failed to meet Telma's gaze as the large woman continued to beam suggestively at her.

"And you said this would take a few days?"

"y-yes. I doubt I could get there, find what I need and be back in just a day."

Telma hummed at her happily.

"I'm glad to see you've gotten close with him. Maybe this trip will come with results and something will finally happen between you two."

Ember's mind flashed to the incident last night. The way he called her name, then telling her 'don't stop'. Her heart beat faster, and she hoped Telma couldn't hear it slamming against her chest.

"I could use the help tonight," Ember felt instantly dejected. "but I guess if my worker isn't in town at the time, there really isn't anything I could do is there? She'll have to make up for it when she's back in town."

Ember couldn't help but grin wide and suck in an excited breath.

"Go ahead and use the cart, don't let me stop your romantic endevours."

Her excitement faultered

"You have no shame."

"Never claimed to in the first place." She chuckled. "Have fun, honey." Ember gave her thanks and started excitedly for the door. "Come get me when you're ready, I'll get the wagon hooked up for you. Oh and give Shad a kiss for me."

Ember rolled her eyes. There was no escaping her taunting.

* * *

><p>"You sure you have everything you need?" Telma asked Ember, looking uncertainly at the few bits they were bringing. She had gotten the covered wagon ready for Ember before she had even come to tell her she was good to go. They were at the West exit to Hyrule Castle Town, toward Eldin province.<p>

"It's not a whole expedition to some unknown place. It's a few days in a civilized town with warm beds and I'm sure they have food there too. The cart is just for the heavy lifting." Ember pulled herself into the coach seat of the wagon. "We'll be fine. Quit worrying." She offered her hand to Shad, pulling him up alongside her, he took the reigns in his hands. He said a quick thanks before turning his attention to Telma.

"It'll be a chance for me to take another look at the owl statue in Renado's basement as well."

"Still going after that dream of yours, huh?"

"Never stopped." Shad retorted happily.

"Oh that reminds me." Telma pulled out a letter and handed it to Shad. "Could you give that to Renado when you see him?"

"Happy to oblige this request." he handed it to Ember who opened her duster and tucked the letter in her inside pocket.

"Shad a word of advice. Take care of Ember, don't let her get into any trouble." She leaded to him and whispered. "And don't do anything I wouldn't do." She gave him a sly smile.

"T-that doesn't exactly exclude much."

"Exactly." She laughed heartily as she watched his face drop in embarrassment. "Now go on, what are you waiting for?"

"A formal invitation, complete with singing telegram would be nice." Ember returned smartly gaining a snicker from Shad.

"Alright you smart-ass, get out of here." Shad took up the reigns and gave them a good snap. "I'll see back at the bar in a few days!" She called after them. She waited for a moment while they headed through the rock passageway into the western field.

"Singing telegram?" Shad questioned Ember when they were well out of earshot.

"It's jovial don't you think?" Shad raised an eyebrow. She turned her head partway to him. "What? You can't expect me to come with the perfect retort to Telma's antics all the time. It was the first thing I thought of."

"I suppose not."

Ember reached into her inner pocket and took out the letter Telma had handed them. She studied the small red parcel.

"I wonder what this is. Couldn't she have sent the mailman?"

"It's probably a love letter."

Ember snorted,

"Right, I'm sure." She returned sarcastically. She looked to Shad's face for any hint of him joking. There was none. "Wait, really? Somehow that unjustifies all the teasing she's been putting on me."

"Teasing?" Shad smirked at her. "Pray tell what about?"

"Mnaaaah, Well you know, just . . . things. None of your business things."

"Keep your secrets if you wish, it's no skin off my bones." He smiled amused, returning his attention back to steering the cart. He was pretty sure what 'things' she was talking about, since he got the same taunting treatment, but he chose to let her save face.

They rode in a comforting silence, the steady sound of trotting their only company. Ember took to occupy herself, by reviewing the notes in her book. She admitted Shad had done a decent job of organizing it all. He drew the part to be focused on on one page, numbering on certain things, then putting the corresponding note to that number on the other. It gave for more drawing room. She chewed the pencil she had in her hand, a bad habit she had long since picked up.

"Do you know of any place I might get some dragon wing membrane?"

"I was kind of wondering about that myself. Where ever you find it, I doubt it would be cheap."

"Money isn't really an issue for me." She said through the pencil in her mouth. "I inherited my father's money when he passed away."

"May I ask how much? I mean I don't mean to pry, that's a bit personal to ask, but I'm a rather curious fellow you know."

"I know, and it's okay, usually I don't divulge into my financial situations, but for you I'll make an exception.

"I'm honored." He joked

"As you should be. Back on track though, I sum at this point I may have spent a good forty thousand rupees so far, mostly for building material and purchasing my home. That's barely a tenth of what I was left."

"My word. That's enough to live comfortably for a long while. Why would you pick up work, having access to such funding?"

"It's humbling." She mused, flipping the page of her journal. Eventually she'll have to get a new one. She realized she was running quickly out of pages. "Besides, I only dip into it for large purchases or emergencies. Most of what I live off of comes from working at the bar. If I get relaxed into the comfort of money I hadn't earned myself, not only will I find it whittling away faster, I may turn into one of those stuck up aristocrats. My nose stuck in the air all the time."

Shad chortled loudly causing Ember to jolt a bit away from her book.

"I can't imagine you divulging in such juvenile behaviors. You're too level-headed for that."

"And where do you think I get that? I don't get things handed to me on a silver plate. Well I mean I do, but I don't take it for granted and I especially don't wish to guffaw about the assets readily available to me. It's preposterous and people don;t take kindly to such things.

"I think it's admirable you humble yourself." He turned to give her that look she loved so much on him. It always made her thoughts stop racing if only for a moment. Her eye caught the mark just peeking out from his collar.

'please don't stop' she heard his voice in her head. She suddenly grew afraid he'd somehow be able to hear her thoughts. This intimate act they had shared, whether on accident or not, didn't help in suppressing her attraction to the young man beside her. She wondered briefly if it was effecting him just as much, and if it had been, he hid it well. Only now did she realize the small confines the coach seat offered. They had little less than a few inches between them, between their faces. Why hadn't she noticed before? The closeness made her nervous.

A large thud under the wheels, made the cart jump, surprising them both. Ember had grabbed onto Shad's jacket for support, still trying to hold onto her notebook in the process. He pulled the reigns to stop the horse from progressing.

"Farore. Maybe I should take charge for a bit." Ember offered. Shad gave her an apologetic look and held out the straps for her to take.

"S-sorry."

Ember let go of him to switch to steering the horse onto smoother ground. He heard her sigh and quietly call him a 'dork'. He smirked.

* * *

><p>They arrived in Kakariko just before the sun was ending it's decent, calling the day to a close.<p>

"Head to that egg-shaped building at the edge of town." Shad pointed down the only road to the very last building. "We can stop by to see Renado real quick, I'm sure he's in the sanctuary as always."

Ember yawned. "Then can we get some sleep please?"

"It's a bit early for that." He then realized she must still be recovering her sleep from the days she stayed up. One night of good rest isn't going to reset her sleep patterns. "But, yes, we can get you to bed right after."

"Fantastic, best news I've had all day." Ember almost mumbled. "We'll give him his love letter, say a quick howdy-do then shovel on off to hit the hay." Shad chuckled.

"and you call me a dork."

"Hush, you ARE a dork" She pulled the wagon to a stop in front of what she now knew as the Sanctuary and allowed herself to close her eyes now that she didn't have to focus on steering. Only for a second though before she moved to jump off the seat and stretch her legs. "You go ahead on in, catch up with your friend, I'll take the horse for some water." She said while undoing the reigns on the horse and leading it out from it's mount.

"Of course, I'll be back in a moments pass." She nodded to him, and as he passed her to go inside, she held out the letter from Telma for him to take.

He opened the door without knocking and stepped inside. Ember assumed this was a public building as he would never be so impolite otherwise.

"Ah Shad, what brings you here this time? Back to look at that statue?" Renado greeted the young scholar warmly.

"Not quite the case you see. Though I wouldn't mind taking a peek later I fit's not too much trouble."

"Not at all, but if not that, what are you here for then?"

"I'm helping a dear friend of mine. Though I'd figure I'd drop by and let you know we were here. We came to gather some metals from Death Mountain. Apparently she says they allow her salvage from their scrap."

"She? So this is a lady friend. I hope she's more well mannered then that Ashie."

"Oh indeed she is. Though really it isn't saying much."

Renando bustled a laugh

"No I suppose not. Well it's good to see you still doing well and I'm glad you stopped by to say 'hello', as always you are welcome to the beds upstairs in the inn."

"It's very much appreciated." He started to turn to leave, but stopped. "Oh it almost slipped my mind." He turned back and handed Renado the envelope in his hand. "From Telma." He took it with a disapproving face. Shad felt sorry for the Shamen. Telma could be a bit pushy with such matters.

"Thanks." his voice was less than trilled.

"I should head on, my companion was practically asleep when we stopped and I should get her to bed." Shad made his leave.

Returning to outside, Ember had tied the horse to the post right outside and he had found her laying the length of the coach seat, arm over her eyes.

"Ember-"

She jolted,

"Yeah, yes. I'm up." She sat upright. Shaking the sleep from her head. "Did you give him that letter?"

"He was less than please to receive it, but yes."

This confused Ember.

"That's . . . please explain?"

"Oh yes of course, I sometimes forget you haven't been around for long."

"I've been 'around' for a good four months." She defended. Reaching in to back to grab the few bags they had brought with them.

"Yes, but I mean before that, around when Hyrule was in chaos. Telma had found personal obligations leading her here. From what I hear from Link, she took a shine to him instantly. Though he didn't take her advances kindly." Ember tossed his his bag where he awkwardly caught it, almost dropping it.

Link. Ember had met him a time or two, when he accompanied Rustle from Ordon. A quiet guy, always saving his words for seldom speech. Any conversation you wished to hold with him you had to infer what he was thinking by his facial expressions. It seemed to her he was bit of an innocent soul, despite the trials she had been told he'd been through. A kind heart, but a little clueless, she thought.

"R-right. I'd take this against her for defense, but I'd rather not stoop to such childishness. I'm too proud for that." Ember jumped to the ground and once sure she was steady on her feet, she motioned her head for Shad to lead the way .

"Glad to hear, you don't take the advantage." He started across the road, Ember in tow. She saw a sign stating 'Elde Inn' on a sign over double doors. She had stayed a time or two when she come to recover parts. After going up a small ramp from the side, Shad opened the door and stepped aside for her.

"Ladies first."

"Chivalrous as always I see." She mock curtseyed for him as she passed. "Thank you good sir."

"Sarcastic as ever I see." He sighed. She turned to her immediate left and went up the stairs to the upper floor. She took the first bed she could find, set her belongings down next to it and allowed herself to fall onto the soft mattress.

"mmmm . . . bed." she hummed

"Astute observation." Shad returned, taking a seat on his own on the other side of the wall.

"Shut up, I'm tired. My lethargic aptitude greatly decreases my ability to care." She turned on her side, facing him with her head on the pillow with her arm tucked underneath."If you want me to, I can always prattle on about the uses for a mattress besides sleeping. Will that satisfy your expectation of my usual curious observations rather than just saying 'bed'?"

"Perhaps. What 'uses' did you have in mind?" He crossed one leg over the other and grabbed his knee with both hands.

Ember stared, her face reddening slightly, there was one use that immediately she thought of, but she wasn't going to say it out loud. Instead she rolled over with a huff, facing away from him.

"Goodnight Shad." She said, none to happily. A chuckle from behind her sounded.

"Sleep well my dear. I'll be up for a bit longer. If you need anything let me know."

She waved him off without a word.

Shad never knew Ember mumbled in her sleep, well . . . hummed mostly. The one night he spent by her, he had fallen asleep before he was able to hear it. Now as she lay in the bed across from him, every so often he would hear her.

"Hmmmmm ticking . . . beautiful gears."

Shad rolled his eyes. Even in her sleep she was all about her clockwork. He wondered if this girl's mind was ever quiet, and figured if he had the same racing thoughts all the time like she did, he would go mad. He speculated if she was like that the whole time she was growing up. That would explain how she's able to keep it subdued, as much as she did. Sure he had moments when he was all over the place with his thoughts. Though not to such extremes as she had been.

He recalled a time when she tried to explain how her thought process worked when he asked about how she knew what went into constructing new things

* * *

><p>"That's explained best using an example. What would you call that?" She asked him, pointing to the book in his hand he seemed to carry everywhere with him.<p>

"It's my father's research journal."

"Well yes, but what do you see?"

"I don't understand. I see a book."

"How I see it, it's the construct of the wood from a tree making up the paper within, the use of the inedible parts of a cow, dried to make the outer shell that is the cover. Crushed hawthorn branch and wine, for the ink staining the pages, the cotton, used to make string, binding everything together. Until you pick it up and open it it is a world of possibilities on what it can contain. From all the way to a biography of the world, to a simple children's story, the contents unknown unless you read it. How far the 'book' has come from being written on stone tablets, to wood carvings to parchment. That, Shad, is how I view the world. Not just from what I see, but what goes into making it. This is what helps me in knowing what exactly I need to create the ideas I think. I know what I want the final product to be now it's just reverse engineering to figure out what I can use to make it."

"Do you analyze so deeply with everything you see? I'd imagine having to break everything down all the time is distracting."

"It use to be that way, always trying to figure out how everything was made by looking at everything in a different sense. It's how I got to be the inventor that I am now. As time went on I learned I couldn't divide my attention so thinly if I wanted to get anything done. So I conditioned myself to rather than seeing everything at once, I would only look at what I need to in that sense. Otherwise, instead of spending my time talking with you I'd probably be analyzing what went into making your glasses and if I can get the materials to make it on my own. At that point I wouldn't hear a thing you say since I'd be lost in thought."

"I suppose you'd need such a mind to do what you do."

"It helps."

"You never cease to amaze me Miss Ember."

**A.N. I find myself thinking a lot like Ember, though not to such extremes as her character does. Much of her personality is based of my own sense of curiosity, and while i can't say my own vice has gotten me into as much trouble as her's has, it has it's downfalls in and of it's own. Much like her, but less often i will find myself staring into space at some mundane object wondering how it orginially was thought up and how it may have come to imagination. A lot of my own though processing gave me inspiration to create a successful tinker of which i can only wish i was.**

**but i digress i must be boring you with such idle chit chat**

**I may wait to upload the next chapter until i complete more. While i do have material for another 10 pages, i don't want to catch up with myeself before i have a chance to flush everything out beforehand.**


	10. Her Guardian Angel?

**A.N. Okay, to the Guest who asked me if i'm giving up on this story HECKS NO! i just have to move. and moving is anarduous task i really hate doing. anyway, i'm in the process of slowing moving past a corner that i had written myself into. **

**On another note, check out the new photo i have for the story cover, i drew it myself ^u^ i have better pictures of Ember and shad, i can't stop drawing these two, seriously, i just need them to be together.**

**anyway on to the next chapter. Now remember when i said things won't be the same between Ember and Shad? Yeah, well this happens, so have fun reading.**

Ember woke in her bed facing the wall. She couldn't remember going to sleep. Perhaps she had forgotten? Wouldn't be the first time she lost time.

"Ember." A soft voice from behind her sounded, she knew the voice well. Shad's voice. She turned over and sat up to see him sitting on his own bed across the way.

"Shad, what are you doing awake? It's the middle of the night" She tried looking around, but somehow she couldn't focus enough on anything. Her attention returned to Shad, he was easy to see, easy to focus on. He still hadn't said anything. "Shad?" Silently he stood and walked over to her, coming close enough for her to need to lean back out of discomfort.

"Ember, I told you I would do whatever you asked of me." His words, slow, almost whisper. He crawled onto the bed, making her press against the wall. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest at his close proximity. "Please," He brushed his hand across her cheek, sending shivers through her. "Ask me to kiss you." Her face bloomed instantly in pink

"W-what? S-shad I-"

"Please, Ember. I need it." Her chest ached. She longed to feel the brush of his lips against her, but where had this come from? Had that night affected him more than she thought? Sure it had an unexpected outcome, but enough to have this adverse reaction later on? It's not like she didn't want it, but she'd rather it be out of genuine affection rather than lust.

"I need you." He was barely apart from her now, eyes half lidded voice barely audible "My Ember."

It was all the push she needed, despite her reservations.

"Please. Kiss me."

He closed the gap, gently at first, laying his lips across hers, holding her face in his hands, lingering as she returned the affection. Suddenly, he became more firm, more urgent. There was a certain need behind the kiss. A want for more than just simple touches. Ember found herself complying to his demand of her love, grabbing on to the back of his neck and pulling him forward to her. He wrapped one hand around the small of her back, pulling her up on her knees so he could press more of her against him.

She gasped as his hand went to the back of her head, gripping her hair tightly and pulling so that her head tilted upward. His mouth found it's way to her neck, where he nipped at it in the same spot she had bit him not long ago. She breathed heavily, her hands digging into him. She could feel him smile against the crook of her neck, happy with her reaction. Then, just as she had done before, he bit firmly on her, causing the same electrifying pleasure course through her entire body.

"Sha~ad!"

Ember jolted up, face hot, breath heavy, sweat beginning to form. She threw the blankets off of her in attempt to cool herself down and turned her legs over the side of the bed. Leaning over, she tried to catch her breath and clear her head of the excitement of her dream. Her hands went up to rub over her eyes, then settled on her temples, holding her head up.

"Nightmares?"

Ember lifted her head to meet Shad's concerned gaze. He was sitting on the bed against the wall, his knees bent up, and his father's book nestled open on them. The heat came back to her face. She shifted her gaze down to the side, unable to look at him. She was afraid if she met his eyes for any longer, he would somehow know what had gotten her so riled up.

"S-something like that."

A moment's silence.

"Want to talk about it?"

"N-no!" She alarmed, snapping her head up again. Then quickly turned her voice down. "No, it's not really anything to worry about. Just. It surprised me more than anything."

"I see, I just thought maybe it was something worse, you seemed troubled while you slept."

Ember's face went into alarm.

"I-i didn't say anything did I?" She cautiously asked.

"Not anything of note, you were just restless." He closed his book and moved to the edge of his own bed, sitting his feet down to the floor.

'Oh thank the goddesses.' Ember allowed herself to relax and take a deep breath.

"I've noticed you do tend to speak in your sleep." She tensed back up. He read this discomfort. "It's okay, whatever your worried about me hearing, I don't believe you said. It was mainly talking about clockwork."

That's right. Before she had this other dream, she was as a young girl, her father showing her how gears turned in synchronization. It reminded her a way to calm herself down and slow her ever beating heart.

Ember leaned down to the bag she unceremoniously tossed by the bed, and rummaged through, trying to find what she was looking for. She pulled out an old copper pocket watch. There was no design on it, just a simple flat surface, shining it metallic color.

"Is that the one you've been working on?" Shad asked curiously, briefly curious as to why she would bring it along.

"No this was my first piece of clockwork I ever made." She opened the back, exposing the gears underneath and wound it up. "My father helped me build it when I didn't have the knowledge enough to do it on my own." Releasing, her hand from the winding mechanism. The constant ticking and turning of gears started, quiet, but loud enough to hear if you stayed silent. She crossed her legs on the bed and just held it in her hands, closing her eyes as she listened to the mechanical rhythm of the watch.

"Ember?"

She shushed him. Continuing to sit in silence, the binaural beating lulling her into comfort. Shad crossed a leg over the other and watched her in her meditation, finding it a little strange and wondering what she was listening for.

After a minute of silence, save for the tick tick tick of the gadget in her hands, Ember snapped the watch shut, and took a deep breath in and out, returning the time-piece back where it came from

"I don't mean to be rude, but would you mind explaining what that was all about?"

"Sorry. The sound calms me, helps me concentrate my thoughts. It's a little weird I know." She tucked her legs up, wrapping her arms around them.

"No, not at all. It would make sense, since you've been around it for as long as you have." He paused. "I think it's quite cute."

Ember's face grew hot as her brow furrowed.

"No, 'cute' implies something you would find a child doing for their own humor, this is meditative. I'm not a child, Shad."

"Yes, of course. How silly of me." He let a small laugh escape his lips.

Ember exhaled the breath she had held from apprehension and tried to change the subject.

"So why are you still up? It has to be late into the night."

"You haven't realized it's morning yet? For a clockmaker, you have a bad sense of time, dear Ember. It's quite contradictory."

"Then you wake ridiculously early. As for my sense of time, it's precise when there's a window and I can actually tell it's morning. Until then, the haze of coming out of the dreamworld is going to hinder that ability. Not everyone is use to waking at the exact same time everyday like you. Regardless, if it is in fact day as you claim it to be, then let's not dawdle." Ember rose from the bed, grabbing her bag from the floor. "I suggest you change into something less heavy. We are going to be working at the base of a dormant volcano you know."

* * *

><p>The scrapyard had grown less plentiful than Ember last remembered. Where once there had been towering piles of various degrees of scrap, now stood foothills of nearly useless piles of rust. Course the last time she had been was before the rock creatures she knew as Gorons started re-working in their mines. They too needed the parts themselves for new platforms to get around the caverns they mined for the rocks they ate as food. She wondered if that was all they consumed or if they needed any kind of food sustenance of the more human variety. If that was ll they ate, why did they have to get it from that specific place. Then again, for all she knew, to them it was the best tasting, and anything else would be like eating from the trash. Just thinking about taking a bite out of such hard sediment hurt Ember's teeth and she pondered at<p>

"How do you think they digest it?" She asked Shad, quickly realizing she hadn't bothered to explain her thought processing. " The Goron's diet I mean. How do you think they digest the rocks they eat?" Ember had found herself distracted with the culture that the rock formed beings lived by. They were supposed to be scoping out good piles of various metals that seemed promising. Though since a lot of what they could see was either rusted or not a strong enough metal, she found it hard to pay attention. It was, in her mind, unimportant to take in the surroundings if all she was going to get was junk.

"Being made of rock themselves, I'm sure it's just like you or I with regular food." Shad answered, trying to keep himself focused on looking for what they needed to smelt into what was going to make up the flying contraption. When Ember had told him to dress light, it hadn't crossed his mind that she would as well. Usually he was used to seeing her in modesty, usually in a long sleeve shirt and a vest if nothing else. Though she still had on her sleeveless duster for Din know what reason, she no longer donned the usual professional attire he saw her in everyday. Instead a form fitting tank the revealed exactly how her body was shaped. It didn't help Shad to not think about her in the way he yearned to ever since the mark she had given him. Forcing his unnatural feelings down, he forced himself to focus on the only admiration he knew was okay, for her intellect. Any other feeling, he figured was, just a product of a lust-like side effect of that event a few nights ago.

"I wonder if they drink lava like water."

"Perhaps. Though, I have to remind you we aren't here for the culture. You still haven't told me what kind of metal you're looking for"

"Yes, right. I nearly forgot."

"It's a good thing I'm here then, how you got along without me to keep you on track before, I haven't the slightest."

"Then I should be grateful for you voice of reason."

"The metal though." He reminded her.

"We need something that won't corrode very easily. Something with a good strength-elasticity ratio."

"What about gold? A litle extravagant, but it's flexible."

"True, but believe it or not, it's also a very weak metal. There isn't a pure metal with exactly what we need, so we're going to have to collect various kinds to be smelted together to get the desired effect we want. Though I'm not exactly brushed up on what metals mix well so I really wouldn't know what to look for."

Ember stopped and glanced to a towering pile of scrap to her side. It was promising of more usable materials closer to the bottom of the pile. Right in the middle stuck a long pole and Ember figured she could use the leverage from it to topple the topside off so she could get better at what was underneath.

"Wouldn't it make sense to find that out first before coming out in this uncomfortably hot environment?"

Ember went to grab the metal stick, wincing and withdrawing her hand quickly when she realized it had grown hot from being out in the sun.

"I hadn't actually registered the thought until I said it." She removed a small tube from her duster's inner pocket, tucking it into her belt, before wrapping the clothing around the hot material. "Hind-sight is 20/20 Shad. Maybe I should borrow your glasses." She set the bracing her foot on the most stable thing she could find and started to force the thing out sideways, trying to jostle as much on top as she could. "Anyway I figure we could gather what ever usable things we can find and ask the residents here what they can do with it." Slowly the pipe began to slide with a grind.

Shad was about to ask is she needed help until a disruption from the top of the pile sounded, catching his attention.

"Ember, I don't think you can do that." He steped closer to her, eyes up, watching the more than heavy alloys threatening to fall.

"Of course I can, I've almost got it free." Her continued pull only shifted everything more.

"No I mean-" He was interrupted by the start of clambering steels from overhead. He reached out, quickly grabbing the back of her tank shirt, yanking her his way. He wrapped his arm he grabbed her with around her arms and the other protectively around her middle, keeping her out of harms way as the death trap she had set off crashed to the ground with a loud grinding thud, "You _shouldn't_ do that." He finished as everything quieted again. "Are you okay?" He turned his face so his forehead pressed to her temple.

"A little shaken, but yes." she responded a little in shock from the sudden breath of his voice in her ear.

Shad breathed a sigh of releif and on instinctual impulse, pulled her ever so slightly back into him.

"Thank Farore." He could feel her pulse beating furiously through her stomach where his arm laid. He figured it had been from the sudden rush of almost being crushed under a pile of metallic debris. Though in actuality, she was more focus on how he had her enveloped, his tendency for extended contact was more than welcome to Ember at this particular moment. When he tugged her back by the shirt, it had rode up just enough to give bare skin contact when he encircled his other arm around her. Ember allowed herself a moment to enjoy being as close to him as she was before she reluctantly let her professional side take over.

"Shad. You're doing it again. Please let go." He quickly pulled out from around her, stepping to the side so he could at least see her face. Ember allowed her arms to drop to her sides and as always, she was saddened at the disconnect.

"Sorry, I just saw-" He picked at his hands, fidgeting. " . . . you were in the way . . . it was falling. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Okay, Shad, calm down." She put her hands up to stop his everlasting apology. He quieted though still fidgeted slightly. "Thanks for pulling me back, but really it's fine. Though I could stand to be more perceptive."

"I worry your recklessness is going to get you seriously hurt at some point."

"You're a little late to be worrying about that." Ember strode over to the edge of the avalanche aftermath, bending over to pick up the small tube that had fallen loose from her belt when she had been yanked back. "Here hold this while I fish for my duster." She held it out for him to take.

"What is it?" he asked, grabbing the small cylinder and examining it, it looked like a simple round casing, holding something inside.

"It's a shot of adrenalin." Ember answered, starting to rummage through what had almost fallen on her so retrieve her clothing. "I keep one on me at all times."

Shad pulled on one end, opening the small case in the middle, revealing a small needle inside containing a clear liquid.

"What for exactly?"

"I've had my fair share of close calls before." She reached her hand down, weaving it through the scrap, feeling the stiff fabric she was familiar with and grabbing onto it. "When I was building my electric weapon, I wasn't unscathed when messing with the coils. Got a terrifying shock and sent myself into a kind of cardiac arrest, nearly stopping my heart." She pause, pulling her duster free and moving to put it on. "I didn't have anything to really fix it at the time, so I had to sock myself a second time to re-stabilize. I very unpleasant feeling, I may tell you." She leaned against a solid stock of iron, putting her hands in her coat pockets. "Once was bad enough on accident, but to have to do so gain on my own. I'd rather not go through it again if I can help it. So after that whole shebang settled, I ordered a large case of those shots so that I may have one on me at all times for when I need it."

Shad closed the tube casing and handed it back to her. Finding himself fearing for her and at the same time bewildered by her strange habits.

"You should really take care of yourself better. All this abuse you subject your body to has to be taking it's toll."

"It's a dangerous trade. The hazards in this field are copious. Even if it may seem pointless to have such a thing as a single shot I may never use on my person, it's good to be prepared just in case. Always have a contingency plan, Shad. Live by that and you'll never be unprepared for a situation."

"The effort for readiness is commendable, but you cant possibly think of every out."

"No, but I get as close as possible, thinking of every small thing that can go wrong. There are thing I do on habit that may seem unnecessary, but it's kind of my own warped version of a medical kit."

"Ah, well hopefully the time will never arrive when you have to use it."

Ember nodded in agreement, looking at the ground. She absentmindedly grabbing her tank shirt where her heart laid, remembering the agonizing pain she had been in.

It had been the first test she conducted with her electric device. Foolishly not checking to make sure it was completely covered with rubber where any part of her would be contacting with metal. As soon as she connected those two raw metal prongs to the rest of the bracer, an intense heat shot through her, failing her heart. It had felt like eons before she was able to regain her wits enough to understand the grave mistake she had make. All the while trying and failing to pull in a proper breath, her chest feeling like someone was slamming a brick into it over and over again in sporadic rhythm. The only chance she had out of it was to jolt her heart again to set it right.

A hand on her shoulder fazed her out of the past and she looked over at Shad, he had joined her in leaning against the iron.

"Well it's a good thing you have me here now, who else is going to watch over you?" He smiled to her.

'Damn that smile, it may not be a work related thing that's going to set my heart out of sorts again.' Her hear fluttering ached just a little more than usual, effected by her electric memory. Still, she managed to keep her outer visage of calm.

"So then you're my own personal guardian angel."

"Y-yes, I suppose you can make that parallel." he swallowed, taking his hand off her shoulder. Unsure why the prospect would make him so unsettled. Her putting the words so outright, he felt a need to be the one to protect her. While Ember may be able to take care of herself in her own outlandish ways, and even if someone else were there to look after her, he wouldn't be satisfied without knowing firsthand she wasn't endangering herself.

"Alright, enough dawdling." She picked herself up. "We should start actually gathering material before the day is lost."

Silently agreeing, he moved to start picking through for the most intact metals they could find. Piling what they could find into an open space away from the rest.

Guardian angel, E_mber's_ guardian angel. To be hers whenever she needed him as she could be his.

He forced the thought down, knowing it was a fleeting feeling birthed from the still lingering effects of 'that night'. Refusing to acknowledge the base instinct that came with being male for the sake of reserving his respected status with her. She deserved his best, and he was going to make sure that happened.

In his distraction, he failed to keep caution of sharp edges and in grabbing a large sheet of what he figured to be iron, he slipped his hand, slicing across his palm. The sudden pain made him yelp and retract his hand.

"Shad? Did you cut yourself?" Ember called from a little away, a few metal rods in hand.

"I don't think-" He cut himself off, looking at his palm. It was soaked in a red warm liquid that was dripping through his fingers.

_Blood_

Shad became queasy. His hand stung unbearably as he held it awkwardly palm up in front of him, watching as the liquid dripped from his fingers landing with a small -plink- onto the piece that had cut his hand. The sight of it made him feel like he was going to pass out the longer he looked.

My b_lood._

As he began to lose balance, hands found themselves on his shoulder leading him away from where he was standing.

_There's so much._

He felt his stomach begin to lurch and his vision start to blotch out. He had to look away, or he knew he would faint. Someone was holding him steady, setting him down to the ground and he was thankful to not have to worry about his weak legs.

_Ember_

He realized she had been talking to him, though he hadn't registered she had even spoken.

"Shad, Are you're okay?" He didn't answer. She took his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. His eyes were dazed, unfocused, he might as well have been looking at empty air from behind his specs. "Shad."

He gave a nauseated hum in response.

"Come on, Shad, try to focus." She tapped his cheek with her palm firmly a few times. It seemed to help him gather his wits a little. "There you are. Good, now I'm going to ask again. Are you okay?"

"I feel sick." He answered weakly.

"Right, you must be Hemophobic." She knew he kept some medical supplies in the pouches attached to his belt so it was all reflex that led her to reaching into one, searching for some bandages. "I would have never guessed that from you." She took her water canteen from her hip and held out his hand, rinsing it off. Shad winced and tried to jerk away, but she held firm onto him and started to wrap his palm.

Once the cut was covered and little red could be seen, save for what leaked through a small spot the soaked through on the bandage, Shad seemed to come out of his anxiety trance. Ember returned her hands to the sides of his face to make sure he was doing alright.

"Shad." She started to slide her hands down to his shoulders. He quickly grabbed her wrists before she could run them over the most sensitive spot in the crook of his neck and looked her in the eye.

"Don't. Please." He released his grip when she pulled away. After a moment of silence, and letting his unease feeling settle, he spoke again. "I'm not very good around blood."

"So I see." She stood, locking her knees for a moment to stretch them out from crouching in from of the young lad who's eyes still hadn't left her face. "Maybe I should have brought gloves."

"I'll get you your own pair of glasses then." He tried to joke. It took Ember a moment to figure out what he had been talking about.

"Oh right, hindsight." She chuckled a bit. "Take it easy for now, I'll continue on for bit. Then we'll go request some assistance from the Gorons." She pat his shoulder twice as she passed him.

Shad sat, stewing in his own thoughts. He leaned his elbows on his knees and turned his hands over, examining the bandage Ember had applied. Once again he was the one to fall apart while she seemed to stay composed the whole time. Always knowing what to do in a situation to defuse it. Maybe that was the part of her that always needed a plan B for everything. Regardless, he wasn't functional just because of a little red and wondered how he ever thought he could be around to keep Ember out of harms way. He was no guardian angel, he couldn't be the one to protect her.

He pressed his good hand onto the palm of the other one, wincing when a twinge of pain shot into his arm. It took his mind off of the young inventor for a few moments, letting him remember the relationship between them was merely friendly. His attachment to her was formed from their mutual interest in the field of work they both strive toward. They overlapped too much for him to be disinterested and he had been letting a small incident warp that into what he constantly told people it wasn't. It seemed Ember hadn't let it effect her as much and if she could still have an air of control, then so could he. With his vow of self control in mind, he pushed off from his knees and continued to help gather scraps.

**i can see shad being faint at the sight of blood. Anyway, Ember to the rescue ^u^ and you get to see Shad opening up more to the idea of acctually liking our little ball of flame.**

**anyway as always please review, i need story attention. also, i'm completly caught up with the story i have written, so come monday when i start having days off, i'll start writting again, not for you, but for me, they need to be the adorable not-couple i imagine them to be. **


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